This entry was posted on
Friday, March 27th, 2009 at
10:10 am and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.
OK, taking as read that Derek Draper is just as shameless a spin-merchant and just as crooked a blog-cheat as (if not more so than) Paul Staines, check this out:
Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes) and Derek Draper on Daily Politics – Thursday, 26 March 2009:
[Extract from 01:50 to 02:10]Paul Staines: When he was starting up, he phoned me up for advice, he had lunch with Iain Dale, and then quite disgracefully [to Draper] you go and smear… Dale… as a racist
Derek Draper: I didn’t say he was a racist…
Paul Staines: But who put you up to that? Because…
Derek Draper: … I said he was an apologist for racism.
Paul Staines: But who put you up to that?
Derek Draper: Nobody put me up to that…
Paul Staines: Damian McBride put you up to that!
Derek Draper: Well, look, already…. [he gestures at Staines]
Paul Staines: I’ve seen the briefing paper done by Downing Street; “How to get Dale”
Derek Draper: Well, publish it.
Paul Staines: I will publish it this afternoon
Then, later that afternoon, instead of the promised knockout document, we get this:
Now, don’t go putting me in the Draper camp like the knee-jerkers are bound to (there’s plenty of bullshit from both of them in this broadcast; in fact, with the amount of bullshit they’ve managed to fit into just over 5 minutes, I think they may have broken some sort of record) but Paul Staines used this platform to declare that there was a Downing Street conspiracy to ‘get’ Iain Dale, and even promised to produce a document proving it that very afternoon.
Only he didn’t do that.
Instead, he decided, real cool like, that now might be a good time to retire limp from the field and suck on a few oranges.
Paul Staines has punked out… again.
He’s got no game.
And, it must be said, no head for telly.
–
(Psst! Meanwhile, here’s Iain Dale being a petty, dishonest and partisan twat. Again.)
By Paul.Ferrari March 27, 2009 - 11:04 am
I noticed this too – I was waiting with baited breath for the publication of this Briefing Paper – let's be honest if it was real, it could have been quite a poke in the eye for Downing Street. How unlike Paul to be full of hot air.
By Manic March 27, 2009 - 11:56 am
It's *bated* breath, BTW. Made the mistake myself many times.Plus, I would add that it's also entirely out of character for Paul to make an assertion he can't support with evidence in front of an audience likely to simply take him at his word.
By Guy Gooberman March 27, 2009 - 2:47 pm
All mouth, no trousers this lot, too fat and out of shape to be street fighters.Punks out is a great tunr of phrase even if it gives punks a bad name.
By Paul.Ferrari March 27, 2009 - 4:03 pm
Thanks for the spell check.He obviously can't publish it because he doesn't have it … http://www.order-order.com/2009/03/dear-damian-mc…
By Manic March 27, 2009 - 4:34 pm
Remember when Paul Staines made out that he had a 600-word retraction or some such nonsense for that 1986 article about him proposing a strategic alliance with the BNP, but it turned out to be a personal letter from the journalist that he had begged for years later?http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/2007/02/14/kniv…
By Manic March 27, 2009 - 4:39 pm
Whoops. Excuse me, but it was a "*400*-word retraction" that Staines claimed to have that was in fact a personal letter from the journalist that Paul had begged for years later:http://www.chickyog.net/2007/02/11/guido-fawkes-a…
By jailhouselawyer March 27, 2009 - 5:37 pm
Comment deletedThis post has been removed by a blog administrator.March 26, 2009 12:52 PMBlogger Iain Dale said…JHL, your comment has been deleted for reasons of libel.March 26, 2009 1:01 PMBlogger jailhouselawyer said…Iain: I fully expected you to do that so I also posted it on my blog. You have a strange idea of what libel is. Your sword of truth matches Jonathan Aitken's. But, even I am happy to admit between the two of you Aitken comes in a poor second.March 26, 2009 1:13 PMBlogger Wrinkled Weasel said…Not a big fan of JHL to say the least, but wasn't what he said true? I thought it was common knowledge.March 26, 2009 1:17 PMBlogger Clive said…Iain, assuming what JHL posted as a comment was the same as his headline on his blog, then I am afraid it's all supported by documentation. The only grey area is the Guardian's supposed "retraction" which, having seen the document in question, is anything but a retraction, but more of a personal letter from David Rose saying "sorry mate".And before anyone claims that Draper is fair game for being a public figure, but Paul isn't; I'd suggest that Paul has raised his profile to the point where he is as much a worthy target as Draper.Personally I consider both Paul and Draper to be two similarly distasteful individuals politically, professionally and, as far as I can tell, personally. That Paul has the hubris to portray himself as crusading for openness and accountability whilst being guilty of routine dissembling is something I find indefensible.March 26, 2009 1:41 PM
By Manic March 27, 2009 - 6:17 pm
Thanks for that, JHL. Would have missed it otherwise.Link here for those who want to see what's left of that conversation over at Iain's:http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/03/guido-v-drap…A related conversation popped up here today, when Iain took great exception to my pointing out that he's a rogue publisher and a blog-cheat:http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/03/email-to-dam…I stand by both assertions. Iain can sue me if he likes. But he won't, because he knows that I can prove what I say.
By mikkimoose March 28, 2009 - 12:36 am
I think Derek Draper is a bit better at the old 'rapid rebuttal'. I guess he has years of experience of it. I was amused to see that he posted a long attack (not under his byline, but as 'Labour List') on Labour List (rather than his personal website where it belongs), within 30 minutes of Staines publishing an attack on Draper.And when Brillo and Staines accused him of running an uncritical Labour mouthpiece with nary a mention of the McNulty affair, an article accusing McNulty of being out-of-touch magically appeared pretty much as soon as Draper got off TV.One man makes foolish claims about sources on TV (and he did this before, when he appeared in shadow), while the other claims to be running a site with free and open debate – but that debate mysteriously only appears when he's embarrassed live on TV.
By jailhouselawyer March 28, 2009 - 12:51 am
No problem. Another blogger alerted me to the spat. It would appear that Iain Dale and Paul Staines both suffer from the same disease hypocriteliaritis.Watch out for the Guardian and Telegraph on Monday and there maybe other papers covering the Prisoners Votes Case as well.