This entry was posted on
Friday, March 9th, 2007 at
2:59 pm and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.

Praguetory is a Tory blogger and a perfect example of the type of ratbag that breeds in the dishonest ‘blogging’ culture currently being pushed by Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes (aka Paul de Laire Staines).

[Most recent entry on this subject is here and an audio-visual round-up of the matter as a whole can be seen here.]

He’s also just a little bit full of himself.

Praguetory started his political web ‘career’ by publicly begging for attention using his real name, but later decided that it was more fun to be an anonymous bully*.

[*He has since claimed that he used his name in this way only in “sometime private Tory forums”, which is a lie.]

This leads us to the first example of his breathtaking hypocrisy… and distinct lack of humanity.

A list begins here:

1. Etiquette

Speaking as an anonymous bully, PragueTory insists that the web should be totally ‘unregulated’ (i.e. he should be able to do whatever he wants) but the moment his identity was revealed through his own foolishness, he cried ‘breach of etiquette’ (i.e. a breach of the same guidelines accepted by the majority of bloggers that he either ignores or rather dishonestly frames as a fascist form of regulation when it suits him). He then responded by outing the blogger who dared to point out that he had outed himself! (And even if you can’t accept that Praguetory outed himself, one of the points of etiquette that is widely accepted is that anonymous bullies get their masks taken away. There is a very good reason for this, which is outlined below.)

2. Free Speech

Praguetory has moaned a number of times about his anonymous bullying being removed or ignored on other weblogs, and he likes to scream ‘censorship’ or ‘freedom of speech’ when he does so. He clearly does not recognise that anonymous bullying compromises the free speech of others… meanwhile, the level of actual censorship on his site (usually configured to make him look good) is astonishing. Take for example, this post, which he has since deleted in its entirety because it revealed him to be a hypocrite.

3. Partisanship

Praguetory chooses and prioritises the victims of his bullying along clear partisan lines, yet the moment anyone dares to point out how dishonest or flawed any given case is, he will claim that they are only doing so because they are politically biased (therefore, everything they say can be safely ignored).

4. Drugs

Praguetory has made his anti-drugs stance clear time and again. Yet he still chums it up with the (hopefully former) loved-up blogger known as ‘Guido Fawkes’, and – on this subject – there is no sign of his usually rabid demeanour.

5. Playing the Victim

Praguetory is an old hand at what appears to be a distinctly right-wing game; they will attack you with a baseless smear without hesitation but immediately label valid scrutiny of them as an attack or a smear and will continue to play this nasty game right up until the point where you get a firm grip of their neck… at which point they will cry ‘foul’ and/or ask you to ‘play nice’.

Also, as part of the post above, Praguetory complained about outings ‘possibly endangering the livelihood of the blogger’. Yet here he is openly threatening the livelihood of another blogger.

6. Respect for the Dead

[I had to think long and hard about publishing this, but people need to be aware of what this man is capable of…. especially in light of his recent faux-outrage over the un-death of Maggie Thatcher. However, it is not for the squeamish. If you’re of a sensitive disposition look away now and move on to No. 7… seriously.]

It was revealed that Praguetory has outed himself in a hilariously desperate fashion on 23 Jan 2007. On that same day, I published an image of him, but was kind enough to disguise him (see: original) while making a reference to his dishonest ladder-climbing attack on Bob Piper. He did not respond to ‘laugh it off’ (before deleting said entry – see above) until 15 February 2007.

My last words to him before he suddenly retired from the field in late January were as follows:

Nobody likes a bully, (Praguetory). May I suggest, as your next move, that you play the victim?

That night, Praguetory announced that his fiancée’s grandfather had died and he would be unable to blog for a while. He then went on to ponder on the passing of his own grandfather before signing off.

[Somehow, he later found time to make this subsequent entry – the purpose of which should be clear – before leaving for the funeral.]

That post was deleted a few hours later. Perhaps Praguetory got some good advice or maybe, just maybe, he realised for himself that saving face took a slightly lower priority at that particular time.

You’ll have to excuse my awkwardness over this… death is a delicate matter. I think the most honest thing I can do is repeat the email I sent to Unity at the time, because my feelings on this haven’t changed:

—– Original Message —–
From: Tim Ireland
To: Unity _
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 8:58 AM
Subject: Ick.

“Just as we were going out to eat this evening, my fiancée got the call that her paternal grandfather died suddenly this evening at the age of 85.”
http://praguetory.blogspot.com/2007/01/family-bereavement.html
Praguetory @ 11:17 pm Wednesday 24 January 2007

Even if he’s telling the truth… would you hold a dead relative up as a shield like this?

Now compare this initial misguided/selfish move with Praguetory’s outrage at the disrespect shown for the not-at-all-dead Margaret Thatcher. The two words ‘milk snatcher’ are enough to send him into a state of near-apoplexy.

But, then, Recess Monkey is a tasty target. Possibly a name-maker. Priorities, folks.

7. Paedophilia

I first knocked heads with Praguetory here. You will note that he was not only already aware of the Anne Milton weblog at the time, but the disgraceful smears made by local Tories were specifically brought to his attention during this exchange.

Did he get rabid about that matter? No, he did not. But he went straight for Terry Kelly’s throat when that Labour councillor made a single snide remark:

Devil’s Kitchen – Terry Kelly and the adventure of the paedophile smear (see under comments)
Praguetory – Another Leftie Goes Beyond The Pale

Now compare the two incidents:

On one hand, we have two Tory activists who – in a cold and calculated fashion – published/promoted a site featuring a person’s name, face and location; first suggesting then claiming outright that he was a paedophile (i.e. they pretty much invited some random nutjob to do him an injury). Like Praguetory, both of these people contribute to the ‘Guido Fawkes’ weblog. They do this under a variety of pseudonyms and have even alluded to the same smears there. Praguetory’s reaction? He couldn’t be bothered looking into the details of ‘a perceived slight’.

On the other hand, we have a Labour councillor who made a single ill-advised remark. It is open to interpretation, but no matter how you slice it, it was a mistake. Still, it was not quite as overt as the efforts of certain Tory activists (both of which are running for local council). Praguetory’s reaction? He went mental and declared the man to be ‘unfit for office’.

You can see me challenging Praguetory on this very point under the comments of both of the following articles. Each time, he uses a number of techniques to dodge the issue before running away:

Ministry of Truth – Cwy-y-y-y-innnnng Over Yooooooooou….

Tygerland – A few words on blogging recklessness

Even if (and it’s a pretty big ‘if’) we accept that this is a result of perfectly natural and understandable prioritisation, we have the following to deal with:

Is it OK to slur someone as a paedophile? My answer (as should be obvious from the post you link to) is no. – Praguetory

Funny… this is *exactly* what Paul Staines (aka ‘Guido Fawkes’) did to Mark Oaten (more here)…. and to this day Staines defends the repeated slur as ‘satire’.

Yet Praguetory remains one Staines’ staunchest defenders and most faithful attack dogs.

Hypocrite. Hypocrite. Hypocrite. Hypocrite. Hypocrite. Hypocrite. Hypocrite.

Praguetory is a nasty, evil, hypocritical ego-driven partisan parasite.

Contrary to what he might think (or have others think), it is not the ‘heights’ that he scales that makes him dangerous or in any way significant… it is the depths that he will sink to.

[All done? Good. Now we sit back and wait for Praguetory to misrepresent my use of Item No. 6 in the hope of avoiding the core issues and claiming my scalp in the process. I wish him luck. If Praguetory genuinely fears that members of his family or other innocent bystanders may read this blog and be upset by No.6 (I have deliberately avoided using his real name in this post to further minimise the possibility), he can have the item removed with a simple polite request.]

UPDATE (4:30pm) – Tut. Pathetic.

UPDATE (4:49pm) – One of his rules (that make all of the above go away, natch) has just been changed from “Tim Ireland is banned. That seemed like a good rule from the first time I encountered him.” to “Tim Ireland is banned because he abused Iain and Guido’s hospitality at their sites. This is where I first encountered him defending one of his clients by way of ad hominem attack.” He’s also dancing a little jig over here, thanking me for the traffic. FFS, these games were old when ‘Guido’ played them.

Do me a favour, folks, and keep a record of any comments that you submit to his site. I get the distinct feeling that moderation will be somewhat… selective in nature.

UPDATE – Continues here.