Prior to being dismissed, Webb wrote articles for the comments pages of the "Telegraph" newspaper between 2009 and 2011. He criticised those who commented on the online versions of his articles in a "New Statesman" piece. In a 2013 interview, Webb explained his experience with the publication:I wasn't particularly busy at the time, so what I should have been doing in three hours, I was taking a day and a half to do, while getting drunk. I'd sit in the garden, drinking and talking to myself, then go back upstairs, write another sentence, go, 'Oh, this isn't right.' I'd make such a meal of it. If I'd been more professional, I'd have just done it and got on with my life.