This entry was posted on
Tuesday, February 6th, 2007 at
10:31 am and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.
I’ve published a post dedicated to the WHOIS discovery that first featured in this post.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that it’s unlikely that anybody will get a straight answer out of Iain Dale about this specific matter. You’ll also be aware that Dale has already suggested getting directly in touch with Nicholas “Call me ‘Nick'” Boles about this matter in general.
So let’s all take Iain’s advice and see what happens.
In fact, why don’t I sit back for a while and enjoy a well-earned nap while you take Iain’s advice and see what happens?
Nick Boles has been caught using Policy Exchange as an administrative base for a personal website with a clear party-political purpose…. when Policy Exchange is forbidden from participating in any party-political activity!
Will he resign as the Director of Policy Exchange and/or withdraw as a potential candidate for London mayor as a result?
First person to come back with a quality response (“no comment” doesn’t count) will win a used but largely untainted copy of The Mask Strikes Back.
This page helpfully informs us that Nick Boles can be contacted by phone on 020 7340 2650 or via email at nicholas.boles@policyexchange.org.uk
Go to it. I suggest you use email rather than the telephone; that will give you a more reliable response…. but please do Nick the courtesy of informing him that any reply is likely to be published.
Good luck!
UPDATE – If you’re not of a mind to pull Nick’s chain, why not instead politely ask Ellee Seymour why she’s so quiet this morning? Contact details here.
UPDATE (12pm) – Iain Dale has just switched comment moderation on, but he’s still allowing those very-useful trolls through. Funny that. (Note to self: you promised yourself a nap. Get on with it.)
UPDATE (1:15pm) – Well, they can’t pretend that they’re unware of this:
Incidentally, these visits just happen to bracket the period in which this comment was submitted. I’ll leave you to speculate, shall I?
UPDATE (21 Feb) – Bloggerheads – Nick Boles steps down! (Nothin’ to do with me, Guv’nor…)
I guess this means that I get to keep the prize for myself. Is that one of those conflict of interest thingies…?
By Simon February 6, 2007 - 1:42 pm
The points about Policy Exchange are interesting- I agree with you that prima facie there does seem a case that here you have a group of people attacking another group of people for doing what the first group are also doing. I'd say we have about as much proof about Policy Exchange as about the Smith Institute.I was wondering though whether there is another tack on Guido especially- that he is just boring. It seems to me that he and to a lesser extent Dale are uninterested in policy and very interested in the more boring aspects of politics- the partisan up and down. The real weblogs out there are people like Stumbling and Mumbling which provide interesting insight into policy and ideas and economics- Guido just strikes me even if he were innocent of everything you say as repeating the worst mistakes of the mainstream media- ie focusing in on personalities not issues (to paraphrase Tony Benn) and really not seeming to be interested in anything else.I wouldn't put Ellee Seymour in that category though- she seems to have been caught up in this through a sort of defend her friends moment- you may think that is silly but then again lots of bloggers have done it- the Bob Piper moment when say Iain Dale stepped in to defend him was such a moment.Having said all of this- what you've done is interesting- its made me even less inclined to read Guido- but then I never did feel that inclined! Perhaps the Charity Commission needs this evidence submitted to it…
By Lobster Blogster February 20, 2007 - 7:21 pm
'E talks like a lawyer but prima facie to me still sounds like first shit.Shall I get me tin hat, guv?