Press the Red Button Now Marr

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

Press the Red Button Now Marr

Have just watched Adam Boulton's interview with Gordon this morning. (Replay is available by pressing the red button on Sky News). Adam was firm with Gordon, calling him on his credit boom being responsible for the bust, effectively questioning his lying and twisting of Osborne's words in his speech. Jeff Randall gave Brown a tough interview earlier in the week on Sky News as well.

Andy Marr should watch and learn how it is done.

Who Reads Guido?

Guido did this a few years ago, not much has changed really this year. Beeboids browsing, gossipy parliamentarians, bored brokers, lawyers loafing, accountants and lazy lobby hacks are the most easily identified from the server logs. Students from the better universities, party HQ staffers and lobbyists make up the numbers.

	Network Location	Visits
1	houses of parliament	88628
2	british broadcasting corporation	21471
3	conservative central office	18631
4	oxford university	18419
5	university of cambridge	12788
6	news international	7040
7	associated newspapers ltd	6546
8	guardian unlimited*	6309
9	greater london authority	6108
10	university of manchester	5547
11	kpmg peat marwick	4985
12	telegraph group limited	4448
13	good relations	4305
14	trinity mirror group	4293
15	deutsche bank	4315
16	credit suisse group / canary wharf	3913
17	the university of bristol	3866
18	british sky broadcasting ltd.	3772
19	glaxosmithkline	3754
20	pccw limited	3735
21	clifford chance	3680
22	allsop	3659
23	pricewaterhousecoopers gts uk	3646
24	barclays capital	3582
25	european parliament	3441
26	university of leeds	3316
27	shell information technology int.	3259
28	imperial college london	3009
29	hsbc bank plc uk	3002
30	principal i.t.	2985
31	andrews & arnold ltd	2974
32	lehman brothers inc	2869
33	durham university local area network	2644
34	jp morgan chase & co	2599
35	japan network information center	2514
36	the liberal democrats	2512
37	parliamentary communications	2511
38	the university of st. andrews	2501
39	university of sheffield	2457
40	herbert smith	2455
41	independant news media uk	2455
42	british airports authority	2453
43	guardian.co.uk*	2580
44	first city insurance brokers ltd	2313
45	financial times interactive data	2330
46	london school of economics and political science	2330
47	the university of nottingham	2271
48	icap plc	2211
49	mccann-erickson inc.	2205
50	bloomberg financial markets	2130

Watching you, watching Guido...

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

Gordon Lives - CCHQ Celebrates Prematurely

Guido has been telling anyone who would listen over lunch that the media are ready for a change in the Westminster narrative. Guido would point to the Tatler photo-shoot and the Andy Coulson midwifed Cameron on Cameron hagiography by Dylan Jones as the spin tops. The pendulum of the Lobby is ready, eager even, to turn against the too smooth, too cool Cameroons.

CCHQ will be pleased that Gordon has shored up his position, other fresher faces would knock 10 points off their poll lead, Brown is at least that much of a drag on the polls for Labour. The Conservatives are heading to Brum confident that they are on their way to government. The media, in particular the BBC, will be more than willing to throw a spanner in the works. As Dave said, "the deal is far from sealed". The narrative is ready to shift. One thing Guido noticed about Gordon's speech was that it borrowed more from McCain-Palin than from Obama. Experience versus change is the only viable line of attack for Gordon, they will use it.Will the media buy in to it?

UPDATE : Dave has just delivered a speech at the Carlton Political Dinner. According to a seasoned co-conspirator it was a good one and went down well with a friendly business crowd.

He started off by mocking Brown - said he was surprised that Sam Cameron hadn't introduced him, then said she was "my wife, not a prop". Dave joked about how the shadow cabinet were great because "they come up with loads of ideas and I take all the credit". He also pushed the 'no complacency' 'mountain to climb' line quite hard. Last year's Carlton speech was effectively a rehearsal for Dave's conference speech. According to Guido's source, the business crowd were in love with him.

Boulton Lost

'Gordon Brown’s party conference speech was well-crafted, well-delivered and pleased his Labour audience here in Blackpool'. 

Adam Boulton, Sky News

Via a co-conspirator.