Monday, March 26, 2007

Guido Fawkes: Exaggerating Seventeen Fold! Liar Liar Once Again Your Pants Are On Fire

Is the Miliblog currying favour for Labour? Or is Guido a casuist stirrer?

Guido Fawkes has lost his marbles completely. Between obtuse attacks on Gordon Brown GF claims David Miliband's DEFRA blog assistant is paid £62,400 per annum. In fact they are paid £3,600 per annum or £75 a week for a few hours maintenance and adjustment.

GF had previously speculated about this service costing many times more than that. But we all know that a blog is not an expensive thing to run and the cost appears to be proportionate to the benefit to the country of having a digital front in DEFRA's publicity effort which has not necessarily been the strongest down the years.

GF has of course quibbled with a couple of throwaway remarks on DM's blog. One of these merely seemed to factually associate a particular piece of legislation in 1948 with the government of the day which happened to be a very good Labour one. These are simply facts. GF's foul mouthed friends are in full flow in the comments so I don't expect you to go there. What I said was this:

What rude and crude company you keep Mr Fawkes. This story of yours is dopey bollocks and has been from the start. £3600 is not £62000 and £3600 is also not an unreasonable amount for the job or for DEFRA to build a public face for digital famers and yeomen.

Your casuistry and curmudgeonly nit-picking really is getting more tedious than Tony.

If the Bullingdon Bullshitter ever gets elected - proof if needed that media folk are simply bored. Rather than affronted as by relentless selfishness of Tories. If this disaster ever comes to pass, in 15 years or so, non-Tory bloggers will enjoy some great years following your precedents for electric storms in mad hat teacups.

Or otherwise deal with issues that matter to people. £3600 for a blog for a year with a couple of schoolboy errors from a 41-year-old kid with a great future. Not that I'll be supporting him for the top job until he remembers his DNA.


Anonymous said...

What a tosser you are GF blog much better, can't wait for the Tory Government so they can send you to the Tower

Anonymous said...


Chris Paul said...

Cheers chaps. BTW dear reader the above visitors are Tories with Bullingdon potty mouths and bad behaviour as standard.

Chris Paul said...

Oh, and aren't they brave too! Marvellous. So much to look forward to when Guido's people are ruining the country where Maggie left off.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

How can Gordon Brown be Prime Minister when he picks his nose and eats bogeys in Parliament while being televised on the BBC?

The British people would not stand for such a revolting oaf as their leader.

Chris Paul said...

We've seen the video you potty mouthed Tory trolls and Gordo does nothing of the kind. He was just sharpening and seasoning his fine new teeth in readiness for some ripping and tucking for Bambi 2.

Will Parbury said...


Pick it. lick it, roll it, flick it, a whole new line of attack on the tory's

Chris Paul said...

Well, yeah. Sticks and stones can break my bones but snot'll never hurt me. That's where the big teeth and the ripping and shredding of Tory dreams come into its own.

While they worry about some infantile snot flicking hoax our hero is ready to tear them up.

Anonymous said...

Surely most people who finished school can understand that the £3,000 odd paid for a few hours work is (drumroll..) PRO RATA over £60k a year.

Which seems a lot.

Leaving aside the dubious use of civil service staff running a blatantly political blog.

And as for digital Yeoman - please. Don't.


Anonymous said...

In the Liar stakes I'm afraid that Labour has cornered the market in lies and there are none left to go around at present. Blain and Brown are 2 of the wort liars in history.

Everyone except Labour employees and idioits knows that which must cause a certain unease in these scum.


Chris Paul said...

Mmmm, anonymous Andy Jones, thanks for owning up.

The point is surely that while you may consider £30 an hour a lot for a contractor (I can tell you I don't) this contractor is doing 2.5 hours a week. £300 a month. £3600 a year.

Doing the sum and saying he's getting £60k is ridiculous in the extreme.

It's like Trots on Acid. Is Guido a Trot on Acid?

It is lying. And it comes on top of the earlier lying which speculated a slightly smaller sum based on one or two researcher's worth of FT pay.

£75 a week is peanuts to maintain and improve a decent website. £30 and hour is peanuts. £3600 in a year is peanuts. And "Paid £62,400" a year is a big bad lie.

Guido is a liar
Guido is a liar
His pants are on fire

Which is historically rather accurate ... and less of a coup de grace with an ice pick.

And Telfish: suggest you go and lie down in a darkened room.

Anonymous said...

Chris. Are you able to understand the concept of Pro Rata?

Of course you are. As does every single person who has followed this topic both here and on Guidos blog.

Not a single person capable or inclined to direct a browser at Guidos Blog would have thought that a civil servant was actually receiving that actual amount.

Guido does allow for modicum of sense and intelligence from his readers. Coupled with gossipy insights this is one of the keys to his success.

One you might do well to emulate.



Anonymous said...

Andy Jones you are talking rubbish. You reckon Guido didn't give the impression that a civil servant was actually receiving over 60 grand?

Headline from Guido's blog: "Miliband's Blog Assistant Costs £62,400 a Year"

Not "Miliband's Blog Assistant Would Cost £62,400 a Year If He Was Employed Full Time, Which He's Not"

Do you see the difference?

Chris Paul said...

Thanks Andy for your insights and advice

Guido is one of my blogging heroes. But I think he's gone off the boil and that this is one of the worst ongoing stories he has ever run.

Yes, I understand the concept of pro rata. I also understand the difference between true and untrue. Between right and wrong. And this is wrong, very wrong.

The bought-in-blogger will be able to work for 17 years for the sum of money that Guido is suggesting that the tax payer is currently coughing up.

And if we're going for 'pro rata' the amount of party political content ever on it is moot - with the 1948 point in particular casuistry - but on a 'pro rata' basis Mili should perhaps donate £100 to Guido's favourite charity for the blogger's pay putting it up and taking it down.

That would be pro rata.

Silly story.

Guido is a liar.

Your response to my blog is of course a fine example of disproportionality but at least you're not effing and blinding like Guido's other fans.

Best w
Chris P

Anonymous said...

Yes that was the headline. Headlines are not stories. Headlines are intriguing devices used to lure people into a story. They frequently, even usually, make a bolder or more inflammatory statement than a balanced view of the piece can justify.

Whereas in Guidos very first sentence he quotes:


Which to me is crystal clear.

1) Pro rata this guy is being paid well,

2) What the flip is a civil servant doing moderating a blatant political blog?

Its a good story. Its worth discussing. Its harmful to Mr Milliband and the Labour Party.

But the Pro Rata nature of the headline is crystal clear to any reader. The news is commentworthy.

It seems Mr Milliband is embroiling himself in sleaze before he has even begun!



Chris Paul said...

Headlines are part of stories. The headline is a lie. The drift of the story is a lie. The blog is scarcely political but in the brave new days of Departmental blogging I do expect and accept a bit of trial and error, including in testing the water on what is and is not allowed. I feel the 1948 reference is probably OK but perhaps a little unwise in the light of the other one which is outside the scope.

Any sin here however is minimal compared to what pollies are up to up and down the country in terms of using parliamentary allowances for political activity.

Mine (or at least would be after boundary changes if not binned) - John Leech - appears to be breaking all the rules and all the spirit of the rules all the time. To a far greater extent than in GuF story in both effect and numbers reached and in the quantum of economic cost.

Best w
Chris P

Anonymous said...

If Robbie Williams gets half a million pst for playing the Hollywood Bowl for 2 hours is he getting £500M per year? Tory tossers.

Anonymous said...

Departmental blogging??

In which case there should be no politically contentious or Pro Labour content IF it is a Departmental means of communication.


As for Robbert Williams the E addled pop singer. Clearly he is a Ltd Company and not a salaried employee of the Crown. Therefore his Pro Rata earning are none of any of our business. Tosser.

Or perhaps you didn't qualify for a Grammar school?

Like I didn't. Because you scrapped them.

Pull the ladder up Chaps!



Anonymous said...

Chris, you need to wise up my friend.

Gordon Brown picks his nose over and over again, eats snot, and then wipes his fingers on his tie. All on live BBC while Blair stands above him performing at PMQ's.

That's why people all over the Wirral and elsewhere are now ridiculing Brown and referring to him as the BogeyMan, the snot-goblin, the snot-eater etc That's why this is now being referred to as BogeyGate. But people do not just see this as something funny, they also regard it as revolting ehaviour.

It's not infantile and it's not silly. This is realpolitik. This sordid episode will be all over the place come the election campaign.

People won't vote for a party led by someone who indulges in such disgusting behaviour in public.

Drop Brown, elect Miliband.

End of story.

Chris Paul said...

Ha ha ha bloody ha

"People all over the Wirral" watch GUY TV!!

Ha ha ha ha

And Andy

The ridiculous e-Monster comparison IS relevant because Robbie clearly DOES NOT earn £500M.

He works a couple of hours here and there and he gets paid piece work for that. As you lot say, end of .. My car mechanic charges out at more than £30 an hour.

Of course the Mili-blog should have party politics on. The comments don't seem to be moderated properly and there has been one error of judgement and one close call on the face of the blog.

I prefer innovation with a few wrinkles to conservatism myself.

Sorry to hear about your Grammar School ... less so on the secondary moderns that went with it.

jailhouselawyer said...

I have hijacked the Guido Fawkes Liar image. I'm sure it will come in handy on my blog.

Anonymous said...
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Chris Paul said...

Jailhouse Lawyer - you're very welcome, hat tip appreciated please.

Flash - sorry friend, that is unacceptable here. Back to the dungeon for you. Funnily enough I am far more concerned with Guido getting bloggers a bad name over the DEFRA blog ...

(Incidentally that should be "should NOT" not "should" when it comes to party politics.)

... than Gordon doing a budget that does in the Tory Party, that does have some redistribution, and that is the 11th in a line of redistributive budgets. Furthermore I believe he will fix the faults for three categories of poorer tax payers with benefit tweaks.

The bogey story is crap.

And swearing tolerated over at Traitors Gate is frowned on here ... entirely at the potty mouthed bloggers own discretion.

As Guido says use your own blog for defamation and meaningless ranting.

Please come back again and post when your equilibrium and inner peace is restored Flash.

jailhouselawyer said...

But of course credit where credit is due.

Anonymous said...

Hey: did you delete my comment?!

If I remove the "c" word will you let it tru?!
I put so much effort in, too!

I'm Adam Gordon & My email is spare_flash at yahoo dot co dot uk if you want to tell mewhere i've gone wrong.

Cheers Chris

Anonymous said...

Ooops! I now see your response to my comment.

Must admit, I don't understand it, as it implies you don't understand my point, but that's ok! Did you not notice that "pter mandelson" said "cock"? theat's the male eqv of the item I refered to. Yr not sexist are u? Just kidding!

MY POINT: You are a red calling a blue a liar (and I think yr right). But you (again in yr response to my comment) support GBrn and his 2p off tax budget.
If you believe what you say, then you are not a liar. Yr merely blind. :^)

And what's this about the bogey thing being a lie? Is the video fake?

Chris Paul said...

The "bogey" video is not faked but it not at all what it is cracked up to be.

It shows a man scratching his itchy nose and checking there is no spinach in his teeth ahead of 50 minutes of prime time Tory biffing.

Better than doing it during his speech.

I posted a link to these momentous events and my readers were very disappointed at the nothingness of Guido's narrative.

He did not deliver on his promises. He is a traitorous cad, a liar and a bounder.

Peter Mandelson talks cock and bull all the time. But he never says the other thing. And no it is not equivalent. Don't quite know why, but it just isn't.

But just to make you happy "Mandelson's" cock is now being removed.

Chris Paul said...

PS Flash Gordon
My reading of your remarks is that you were NOT being anatomical but merely showing your lack of vocabulary to refer to people you despise.
You Guido-ites appear to seriously lack linguistic distinction.
PS GB disgusts me
Are you saying that the British people would prefer a Toff with absolutely no politics who smashes up restaurants and gerenally tramples on the lower orders? The Bullingdon Bully Bullshitter?

Anonymous said...

Maggie Thatcher dispatched more Grammar Schools than the Labour Party. Sadly True - whichever side you're on.

Link shows independent comprehensive (cf academy?) movement in Sweden of all places ...

Anonymous said...

Hi Chris. No, I'm saying that this (sometimes) British person would prefer honesty from both parties. Hi Chris. No, I'm saying that this (sometimes) British person would prefer honesty from both parties. But you can see that I'm really just a dumb-"c" if i think that that could ever happen.

Spin just confuses: what ordinary person has time to decipher it. We rely (dangerous this) on the media and press to unbundle the real deal. So spin is like weasil sales-speak, we get bored and distrustful of the salesperson and end up saying “oh, eff-off you effing wonker”.