Guido Fawkes: whipping politicians into shape?
|
Version 0 of 1. He might have began his career as an acid house promoter, but Guido Fawkes founder Paul Staines seems to have become a fully paid-up member of the establishment. At the political blog’s 10th birthday bash, held on Tuesday night at the Institute of Directors banqueting hall in Pall Mall, the guest list featured ministers Liz Truss and Francis Maude, Tory strategist Lynton Crosby, plus MPs including Conor Burns, Nadine Dorries and Simon Danczuk. Gatwick airport sponsored the event, doubtless hoping to win backing for its second runway plan from the political heavyweights present. A besuited Staines and co-conspirator Harry Cole opened the event with a double-hander hailing those who had played a role in the blog, including a nod to “Sophie Wittam” (Alex Wickham’s alter ego in the Brooks Newmark sting). Cole looked back on a decade featuring “23,000 blogposts, 5m words, 300m page views, 130 national newspaper columns, countless scoops, superinjunctions that were dangerously broken, ministers resigning and MPs in the nick”, thanking “the countless bent politicians, the lazy hacks, the shagging ministers, the pervy peers, the incompetent civil servants, the secret sources, the smearing sinners, the disgruntled employees, the raging Spad and the extremely bored bag carrier who have kept us in pixels for 10 years now.” He also boasted of the the blog’s role in having “prematurely ejected from parliament Tim Yeo, David Ruffley and Brooks Newmark”. But that didn’t discourage a string of tributes to Guido from top-tier Tories. David Cameron congratulated the blog, saying “what better way to celebrate a decade of rejecting the cosy political establishment than by hosting a cocktail reception and and a dinner in the heart of Westminster with with half the cabinet and lobby invited? ... Your daily dose of plots, rumours and conspiracy have become required reading for all those working in politics, including me, so do raise a glass this evening to the success you have enjoyed so far and all the best for the next 10 years.” Michael Gove hammed it up in a House of Cards-style video, saying: “Here in the whips’ office the black book is no longer where the real stuff’s kept. It is perhaps on the Guido Fawkes website instead. You might think that – I couldn’t possibly comment.” There was also a video message from Nigel Farage – introduced by Cole as “the leader of the opposition”, while Boris Johnson turned up in person. Wednesday would’ve been a good day for politicians to bury bad news or have a scandal break, as it appears the Guido bloggers were too busy publishing back-slapping posts from the previous night’s birthday bash to bother with any actual, you know ... news. |