This entry was posted on
Thursday, February 10th, 2011 at
9:46 am and is filed
under Tories! Tories! Tories!.

Let’s begin with a brand new and very special episode from Conservative Change Channel:

CCC11-01: Jonathan Lord: ‘off the record’

I hope you enjoy a few laughs, but the guts of it is about as serious as it gets:

What the audio I have published in this episode reveals is that Jonathan Lord took NO discernable action against Mike Chambers and Dennis Paul when they involved themselves in a smear campaign where an innocent man was branded a paedophile, and he did so for entirely political reasons.

Jonathan Lord admits that he did no more than have informal conversations with these two Conservative candidates, in private and entirely off the record, because an election campaign was in progress.

(As if this is any way acceptable or his candidates didn’t smear an opponent because of that same damn election. The part-justification he gives for this decision is an insult to the intelligence; he claims he was worried about how I or others might distort it. Well, if he’s worried about my distorting any of this, he’s welcome to come out and debate the matter in public or instruct his lawyers.)

No wonder these two carried on as if they were untouchable. Dennis Paul even tried to breathe new life into the smear campaign through his personal website on the eve of the relevant election.

Because Lord even went so far as to turn a blind eye to the evidence presented to him by me and others, he allowed these two candidates to continue their pretence that they weren’t really involved in the relevant websites, which meant that damaging and dangerous accusations aimed at their opponent (and at me) remained in place for months/years afterwards.

Further, because Jonathan Lord swept this under the carpet, those who were involved (and those who turned a blind eye like Lord did; take a bow, Iain Dale) were able to excuse/disguise their disgraceful behaviour with entirely false implications if not specific allegations that I imagined or invented the whole thing as part of what they contend to be a harassment campaign against Anne Milton. Yet Lord (who recognises that I did not harass or even libel Milton) insisted that his position/decision remain off the record, even after it was explained to him how his continued silence contributed to the subsequent smear campaigns against me.

What. A. Bastard.

Now for the really important bit:

Anne Milton and David Cameron were both advised of the blogs and comments accusing an opponent of child rape at the time, and both referred the matter to Jonathan Lord for action. Today, I have published evidence that proves he took no discernable action, and that he made this decision to protect personal and party interests.

So, from the moment of this revelation, both Anne Milton and David Cameron have a single opportunity to come forward and express their disapproval at this decision, or they own an even bigger chunk of it than they already do, and risk sending the message that they are entirely comfortable with their/Conservative candidates smearing opponents as child rapists, computer criminals, etc. etc. etc. (so long as these operatives are canny enough to only do so within criminal law, during an election campaign, etc. etc. etc.).

Yet I fully expect that they and every other member of the Conservative party will continue to engage in their conspiracy of silence. After so many years, how can I have any less faith in them?

There’s even more to come. Also, since my decision to end these ‘off the record’ games, I’ve been passed correspondence that implicates another big name in the Conservative Party, and it’s not Jeremy Hunt or anyone else I have named so far. I plan to publish this as part of my new policy to shine the brightest of lights into every damn corner of this sordid affair.