Lebedev Won't Be the First Russian Agent to Own a British Newspaper

My Gaydar Suffering - Chris Bryant
David Bowie, Father of the Credit Crunch - Evan Davies
Too Little, Too Late - City Unslicker
How to Promote the Free Market in 2009 - ASI Blog
Does the Telegraph Have an Infiltrator - ConservativeHome
It Is Your Civic Duty to Be Delusional - Simon Carr
The Ghost of James Gillray - Matt Buck
When Will We See More Leftwing Blogs? We Won't. - Douglas Carswell
Is the UK.Gov IT Gravy Train Heading for the Buffers? - Register

THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009

Lebedev Won't Be the First Russian 
Agent to Own a British Newspaper

Guido is not referring to the Soviet-backed Communist paper the Morning Star, but to the former Daily Mirror owner, Labour MP, socialist plutocrat, pension Labour Party donor, thief and long term Soviet asset: Robert Maxwell.

That incidentally is not a crazy internet conspiracy theory, it was the judgement of the intelligence services and the Foreign Office's counter-subversion department according to documents released to the National Archive in 2003. Maxwell was the recipient of many honours from Soviet Bloc regimes for his work for"peace" and business dealings in Eastern Europe. Alistair Campbell loved him.

Same Old Draper, Spinning Lines

In the beginning of New Labour there was spin and young Derek Draper was a child of that, in fact he spun so much that he toppled himself in a sleaze defining moment for New Labour. When you speak to Draper nowadays he is, more than most ever so sensitive politicians, keen to set the terms of the discussion, what is on the record, what is off the record, whether he is going to be quoted or whether it is for background.

So it is in this context that Guido reports that when he was tipped that the new site was going to be called "LabourList" and there had been discussions about a "DailyDraper" blog he called Draper who denied the truth of those names. Point blank denial. Which turned out to be totally untrue. 

After LabourList launched Derek posted this comment on this blog

you did get the name right guido, so well done!but what became of the daily draper you rwote so confidently about? mole got his whisker's twisted?

You know, Derek is a compulsive spinner in the, errm, Jeffrey Archer mould. You would think from that comment Guido had got it wrong, alas a co-conspirator draws attention to this website registered last month:

Domain name:
dailydraper.com

Registrant :
Derek Draper
One Lower John St.
London
W1F 9DT

There is only one twisted spinner in this tale Derek...

Both Gordon and Vadera Quoted Lamont Yesterday

Guido never really bought into the decrying of Norman Lamont. He said a few things that were ill-judged but his judgement wasn't that bad. He was put into the ERM debacle by Major and was happy to escape it, even if it was a messy exit.

So it was good to see his double rehabilitation yesterday, not just with Shriti welcoming "green shoots" but the Prime Mentalist himself quoting the former Chancellor's views. Cameron was attacking the VAT reduction, Brown defended it bya citing Lord Lamont support for it. Prudent Gordon who spent a decades denouncing Lamont as an uncaring, incompetent, economic buffoon responsible for the destruction of the British economy, is now cited by Brown as evidence of the rectitude of Labour economic strategy.

In the same vein yesterday Phil Woolas chided Norman Tebbit on the Daily Politics for his wooly liberalism on immigration issues. Who is nasty now?