Britannia Radio

In Defence of Nadine | Tim Montgomerie
LibDems For Criminals | LibDem Voice
Boris v Bowman | City AM
TV Could Cost Romney | Willard Foxton
US Winners and Losers | Tim Stanley
Nobody Knows Anything | Peggy Noonan
The New Four Letter No Comment | Politico
Jailed Labour MP Says Prosecute MacShane | LabourList
Where Next for Dave? | The Commentator
Your Guide to Election Night | Jag Singh
Will Twitter Cope Tomorrow? | Buzzfeed

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2012

How the tabloids went after Jimmy Savile before he died…
…Over on MediaGuido…

Watson Poised to Criticise Hague’s Abuse Inquiry “Cover-Up”

A Labour source whispers to Guido that Tom Watson is this week planning to attack William Hague over his handling of the North Wales child abuse scandal. Hague set up the Waterhouse Inquiry in 1996 when he was Welsh Secretary under John Major. The report eventually found no evidence of a paedophile ring in North Wales care homes, despite the testimony of hundreds of victims. Downing Street are this afternoon attempting to pre-empt the Watson strike by revisiting the Inquiry:

“Child abuse is a hateful crime. A senior figure will lead an independent investigation of claims of care home abuse in Wales, and will report urgently.”

No. 10 are said to be looking for a judge…
UPDATE: Watson has written to the Prime Minister alleging “a concerted establishment cover-up”.

Labour Corby Candidate’s Balls-Up

Smiles all round in Corby as Ed Balls stepped out into the sun to support Labour candidate Andy Sawford this morning. The slightly forced expression on the shadow chancellor’s face got Guido thinking: it turns out that back in 2009 Sawford wrote a damning article for the Guardian accusing the government of presiding over a shambolic response to the infamous Baby P case. The minister in question was then Education Secretary Ed Balls.

“Take the government’s botched response to the Baby P case, which has made matters worse and put more children at risk. While the government was throwing red meat to the tabloids, and contributing to the hounding of social workers, it has only served to undermine an incredibly important profession.”

All neatly forgotten today. They’ll make a politician out of him yet…

Osborne Haunts Our Dreams

Up and down the country millions of people are waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, petrified by the spectre that has haunted them throughout the early hours. And who is this terrifying figure? A poll for the Mail says that the celebrity most likely to appear in our nightmares is none other than George Osborne. Ouch.
The Chancellor, rather harshly, comes one place ahead of Gordon Brown, a man who no doubt still keeps those who worked with him in those dark days of 2010 up at night. The likes of Katie Price, Anne Robinson and Marilyn Manson also make the list, with shadow chancellor Ed Balls coming in at number ten. No Maggie era Tories strangely…

Labour’s Living Wage Living a Lie

He needed to think of something to prove his One Nation credentials, and yesterday Ed Miliband revealed to Jane Merrick that Labour’s great predistribution hope would be a living wage of at least £7.20 an hour. To mark the beginning of ‘Living Wage Week’ Guido is looking into how Labour’s new flagship policy is implemented by themselves.
This morning Brent Labour Party, home to Barry Gardiner and Glenda Jackson, are advertising for a two day-a-week campaign intern “to assist with preparations for the 2014 local elections and the 2015 general election”. The lucky candidate’s responsibilities will include writing press releases, updating the website, drafting letters and other admin jobs. And how much will they be forking out for what certainly appears to be real job?A grand total of zero pounds an hour.
Brent Labour join the likes of Stella Creasy, Chuka Umunna and Tony Blair as past and present MPs guilty of unpaid intern hypocrisy. Guido would also like to know how much Labour HQ pays its young staffers. MPs receive over £130,000 to spend on staffing, so they can afford to pay those who work for them. Recruiting ambitious unpaid ‘volunteers’ and then pontificating about the lack of social mobility amongst those of low income households is simply rank hypocrisy.