A sign that the blogosphere is starting to have an influence after pro Labour journalists have a go at Guido Fawkes

Dizzy has an interesting report highlighting that a number of left wing blogs, but more importantly, a number of journalists have run an rather inaccurate story today claiming that Paul Staines (aka Guido) has sent an e-mail which states clearly he is working hand in glove with the Tory party.

The background to the story is that Paul Staines has probably done as much as everyone else put together to highlight what Peter Hain has been up to and he has, as a result been the toast of anti Labour bloggers and conversely come in for much criticism and derision from Labour bloggers.

So what has stirred up today's story ? Well an e-mail appears to have been sent to some leading bloggers and journalists with an attachment or footer that states that Guido is a Tory. However, those with the technical nous can see very easily that the e-mail had been altered and journalists should do a lot more than simply check the "sender" to find the true origin of an e-mail. It appears the e-mail footer at the bootom claiming to be from the Tory Party was added after Guido sent the e-mail.

he question then is who is it from ? Guido admits it was his e-mail, but the footer at the bottom of it was added after it was sent by him. So why haven't the journalists noticed this ? It appears to me that those pro Labour journalists who were quick to run the story were desperate to make a link between Paul Staines and the Tories that the truth of the matter was no longer of any interest to them. The journalists in question do not appears to have bothered doing their background checks to check the authenticity of the e-mails. Shoddy journalism.

Note - This posting has been altered to take in to account my initial mis-understanding of the situation. Thanks to Mark Pack for clarifying matters.

What if Paul Flynn was right ?

A couple of days ago I took issue with Paul Flynn, Labour MP, who explained on his blog that most of the significant achievements in terms of world peace, fighting climate change and bringing an end to hated regimes around the world were in great part due to Peter Hain.

The fact that Peter Hain has been replaced in cabinet by James Purnell, The Minister for Photoshopping and Doctoring Photos, led me to take a look through some historic conflict resolutions to see if Paul Flynn was right about Peter Hain's significant contribution to history.

The first piece of evidence is an old photo of Japenese officials boarding a US battleship to sign the surrender to signify the end of World War 2. Not many people know this but Emperor Hirohita later said it was down to Peter Hain's intervention that persuaded him to agree tothe surrender. Peter Hain can be seen ushering the Japanese forward (bottom right hand corner of the picture).

The second photo shows Peter Hain at the signing of the Camp David Peace accords signifying the end of hostilities between Israel and Egypt. Again "this couldn't have been done without Peter Hain" were the words uttered by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat after the meeting.

Finally, the final picture shows the Anti War March in 2003. Can you see Peter Hain ?


No, of course you can't. The odd thing is that Peter Hain was keen to join marches in the 1960's and 1970's, and quite rightly so, for people in South Africa (the country of his birth) but when he could have made a stand against war, against lies and deceit from a government he was part of, he was invisible.

Perhaps not the peace maker after all ?

A life as a comedian beckons for Paul Flynn MP - Is Peter Hain his idol ?

I you need cheering up at this depressing time of the year, read Paul Flynn's account of why we should be sorry that Peter Hain has lost his job.

The almost comical list of Peter Hain's achievements does go on and, if it is to be believed, Peter Hain should be made a saint, given a nobel prize and should be given a statue on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Perhaps the most comical of Paul Flynn' assertions about who will not be sorry about Peter Hain departure are ;

"Hardcore tribalists in Northern Ireland who resent the results of his peace building."

Because let's face it, we all know that without Peter Hain's leadership on this issue, there would be no peace in Northern Ireland

And according to Paul Flynn, those who will be sorry include.

"The majority of the people of South Africa of all communities, who know his work in ushering in a just peaceful transition to majority rule."

Because again, the leadership of apartheid South Africa in 1990 turned to Peter Hain in order to bring an end to the hated segregationalist system they had. Without Peter Hain, Nelson Mandela would still be locked up.

I urge you to read the whol list Paul Flynn has written, particularly the final group who will be sorry;

"His parliamentary colleagues and millions of other people who have long admired his prodigious work, his honesty, integrity and decency."

Hilarious.

To be fair though, if Paul Flynn is right about Peter Hain's extraordinary abilities, not that he has more time on his hands he should be able to sort out global warming, international terrorism and also perhaps his hardest task, which is to work out why the Welsh are so crap at football !

It's not for no reason he is known in some circles as Peter Vain

The vanity of Peter Hain is well known. A man barely able to pass a mirror without taking a second glance at himself, never afraid to chase a headline, gets some column inches or turn up for the opening of an envelope, he is everything that gives politicians a bad name.

Take the brazen way he used the Young Liberals to get himself well known before jumping ship to Labour, a classic sign of a man without political principles, obsessed only with power and himself. This has been my own personal opinion for some years, based on what people in the Westminster bubble tell me and from what us written and said about him. Some might have accused me of showing political bias, but surely Peter Hain's statement today shows that he is a man of very few principles.

It appears Peter Hain thinks forgetting to declare £100,000 is just an oversight. Let's get it in to perspective, we are talking about £100,000, not a few hundred quid. I wonder if Hain had been made Chancellor, a job he had eyed in the past, if he would have allowed the Treasury to view people who fail to disclose £100,000 of income as "an oversight".

As it is, it shows almost comedic levels of incompetence from a Minister who has responsibility for two government departments. Gordon Brown is stuck between a rock and a hard place because if Hain goes, so should Harman and probably Wendy Alexander in Scotland because they too have had problems with donations in recent months. But if they stay, he is left saddled with useless ministers who refuse to face up to when they have broken the rules.

At least we know that nobody likes Peter Hain

Whilst rumour, counter rumour and spin goes on over the attempt by Gordon Brown to get Lib Dem peers in to the cabinet, there is one thing all bloggers seem to agree on. That being that Peter Hain is obviously not top of the list to keep hi Northern Ireland job.
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When The Thunder Dragon, Dizzy and Labour Watch all agree that it puts a large question mark over the future of Labour Deputy Leadership outsider Peter Hain.

Perhaps it will give him more time to spend with his sunbed ?

It might have been more ironic had a Lib Dem took the job, perhaps David Laws, then the "Orange man" could have been replaced by an "Orange Booker"

Hands up if you are bored by Peter Hain's attempts to get press coverage ?

Another day, another "Peter Hain says ... " headline. This time, its free TV licenses for poor people, presumably he has costed this proposal ? Actually, if it is as well thought out as previous proposals from Peter Hain, it probably isn't.

I guess Peter Hain is trying to appeal to the Labour electorate in order to become deputy leader, but he is, in my opinion, one of the most vain and morally vacuous Labour MP's going and it doesn't matter what he says or what he does, he is still going to sound like someone pretending to believe in something rather than a conviction politician.

Read about Peter Hain's latest proposal HERE.