Should We Be Worried?

Has Guido been got at or is there a technical problem?

UPDATE

Panic over, order-order is back up.

The Blue Plaque Idea Has Caught On.

See previous post here.

Would MIND care to distance themselves from Dolly?

CLICK DA PICS AND GO LARGE


Spin Cycle

"Machiavellian, me? Nah!" snorts Draper. "After all my years in politics I've been around some incredibly Machiavellian people, I can tell you – and I can't begin to compete with some of them."



Would he care to name names? Baron Mandelson, perhaps? "Actually, no. With Peter, I promise you, what you see is what you get."



"Just like you, darling," purrs Garraway, adding that if Draper were a Machiavellian, then he would be much more practised at the golden art of putting up and shutting up. "And you're not. A true Machiavellian would use silence. You always speak out," she says. The unsaid "unfortunately" hangs in the air as she nibbles on a chocolate chip cookie, her remedy to cope with the morning sickness that has plagued her second pregnancy. If she didn't eat all the time, she'd have to keep getting up off the GMTV sofa to throw up, "which would not be very attractive at all".



Sofas bring us to another well-upholstered item of furniture – the analyst's couch, since we're here to talk about Draper's new self-help book, Life Support: A Survival Guide for the Modern Soul, in which he puts himself on the couch while offering words of wisdom about the root causes of unhappiness.



There's also candid advice on how to break free from them, much of it gleaned from his private psychotherapy practice in Marylebone, London, as well as his work on depression for which he has won an award from the mental health charity, MIND.

Will Dolly Be The One That Finally Does For Brown?

From Nadine Dorries Blog:

I think the sharks are circling. I think Gordon’s own side are out to get him.

That’s why he has written the letter, that’s why he wants Watson in place. Without him he is totally exposed.

I think smear gate may be the end for Gordon.

Tonight, John Prescott has called for Draper to be sacked.

The Prime Minister has few people he can trust; Watson is reportedly one of them. Watson is also a great facilitator. The go between people like Draper, Mc Bride and the PM and MPs. All seeing, all hearing.

If Watson went one could assume it would be a huge personal blow to the Prime Minister as he will have lost his right and left hand men in the space of days.

The Prime Minister can state he didn’t know what was happening and we can choose whether or not to believe him. However, who would believe that the Cabinet Minister, Tom Watson, whose desk was right next door to Damian McBride’s, and who was I have been told, mentioned in the emails, didn’t know?

John Prescott:

I’ve always believed as a Labour activist that we should campaign on the issues and the politics. But smear campaigns - be they in the newspapers or on the internet - are fundamentally wrong and only help to poison the political debate.

I understand one man has left his job at No10 – and quite rightly so. I believe Derek Draper should now follow him too.

He is not a paid official or even employed by the Labour Party and was just a voluntary adviser on new media.

But I’m sure that that the General Secretary will and should make clear that such advice is totally unacceptable and not wanted.

Tom Watson has stated that he was not involved in a reply to Craig Murray see below:

From Craig Murray's Blog:

April 12, 2009

Tom Watson Denies Involvement

Tom Watson has contacted me directly to deny any involvement in the whole McBride/Draper black propaganda caper.

I rather feel that he ought to have noticed what was going on immediately around him. But the evidence implicating him was circumstantial, and my enquiries today of people who know him personally seem to indicate that he is not a vicious character.

So I accept his statement.

There are some interesting comments on Nadines Blog Here


Including one regarding the letter below also from Craig Murray:

"April 13, 2009

Formal Request for Criminal Investigation of McBride and Whelan

I have today sent the following to Tom Watson MP:

Dear Mr Watson,

This is a formal communication to you in your ministerial capacity. I write as a former senior civil servant and a life member of the FDA.

It appears to me that there is the clearest of prima facie cases that Mr Damian McBride has committed the criminal offence of misconduct in public office. There appears a strong prima facie case also against Mr Charles Whelan.

I believe that you have a ministerial duty to draw this concern to the attention of the appropriate police authorities so that an investigation may be undertaken. No doubt you will wish to consult the Cabinet Secretary, but in the case of a credibly alleged breach of the criminal law, not only of the Civil Service Code, I believe you are also under an obligation to consult the police.

Yours Faithfully,

Craig J Murray "

It would appear to leave Draper with nowhere to turn and Gordon vulnerable to attack from within the party.

Well Done Guido.

Thanks for making this a very happy and enjoyable Easter break.

Labour has New Weapon.

clickpic for ease of reading

Labour's secret weapon to persuade the electorate to use postal votes at the next election.

Smeargate.

We screwed up, big time. We have no-one — absolutely no-one at all — to blame for this but ourselves. The damage the Labour Party and the government have sustained this last 24 hours has been entirely self-inflicted.

And the people behind this sordid little mess owe everyone named in these emails a very public apology.

Tom Harris MP