Friday, March 02, 2007
EXCLUSIVE: Has the Government Gagged the Beeb?
There is a strong rumour tonight that the government (or maybe it's the Labour Party) has tonight taken out an injunction against the BBC to prevent the reporting of something substantive regarding the Cash for Honours Inquiry. As I am in Washington I cannot take advice on what I am able to say about this or not. But something is going on. I will put comment moderation back on. If anyone has any info, please leave a comment or email me privately.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
30 comments:
Iain - you may be intrested in the following found on Slashdot on being sued for Blogger comments - it refers to this post from the American Constitutional Society. However - its either a brave man(in the Yes Minister usage of the term ) or a poor man who would switch of comment moderation just now !
If so then you can bet 2 things:
1. It will be bad.
2. It will leak anyway.
For what it is worth, I reckon (and have done for a while) that Bliar has in fact been interviewed under caution, and that this has been kept confidential for "operational reasons". If so, then this is probably to allow the police the opportunity of having their cake and eating it, ie. by questioning Bliar to the required degree without running the risk of bringing down the government. Naturally, if the information becomes public anyway, it is lose-lose for Bliar!
As an aside, I had a weird dream last night. For some reason the Bliars were coming to my home (kennel?) for a holiday(!)and Mrs B's choice of reading was the witness statement by one T Blair, defendant!
Jess:
If that Booth woman is his brief then he's certainly going down!
Oops.
Maybe I should have phrased that slightly differently...
man in a shed - However - its either a brave man(in the Yes Minister usage of the term ) or a poor man who would switch of comment moderation just now !
Or Guido Fawkes, who's registered his site in Nevis and St Kitts??!! Here's hoping.
I have no inside info on this.
But, last time it was the police who asked that the interview of a person (Blair) was kept quiet for a few days.
This was prior to them interviewing Lord Cash point.
Why not the same thing again?
Except that this time the next interview may have charges? Turner or Levy?
Iain
on another 14 year old BBC "gag".
You may have missed Newsnight last night where Crick was doing a story about a firm of Oxford photographers preventing THAT picture of Cameron and Boris at the drinking pub being published my the media again.
Crick casually mentioned that 14 years ago he saw THE LOWER part of Blair's Oxford drinking club photo showing the future "great" PM making an offensive gesture.
Guido has today "souped" up the photo for his caption competition and published it on his blog. But according to Newsnight he really was making such a gesture.
I can't believe that our media would have conspired to keep secret a photo of say Howard, Haig, IDS etc, etc, making a similar gesture. And yet here is evidence that they did just that for Blair.
Crick admitted he saw it 14 years ago but "was prevented from showing it".
I can't believe it puts Blair in a good light and the censorship of the Photo must surely have saved at least some votes for Blair over the years.
I have to censor what I think of Crick.
Can't find anything in the Courts List for today's date. There again, it wouldn't be if it was an emergency application and held in Chambers.
Like all good things it comes to an end, I saw him on telly teh other day and he is guaunt, shifty and trigger happy on the justification speech.
We all know the BBC is compromised, one l;ook at thier website when its a bad blair day tells you that
But they need to remember that its over very soon, it sin their interest to divulge all this stuff, dont be spineless twat all yer life. How many beeb workers know the real story?
Dale you fiend ...whats going on?
Well Ken loach just called for Blair and his cabinet to stand trial in the Hague and got an ovation on radio 4.
Only better when ruth kelly uttered " I think tony blair has the respect of whole country....."
end of sentence drowned out by shouts of liar and booing...... this is Radio 4!!!
Oh, for heaven's sake, Dale. Have you not heard of t'Internet? Why does being in the Land Of The Free prevent you from taking advice? Have you not heard of e-mail?
As the Duke of Wellington said, "Publish and be damned."
I presume you know that your "EXCLUSIVE: Have the tories gagged the Oxford Photographers" blog entry has strangely vanished?
well if the BBC has been gagged, at least the future of democracy and free speach in England is safe in the hands of the independent Adam (chair of the lobby) Bolton.
Not.
"Have the tories gagged the Oxford Photographers" blog entry has strangely vanished?"
Ian, how can you spin a gagging story on a photo which has been published all over the British media for weeks?!!!
Now if you want to investigate a story about a damaging photo never seeing the light of day until the said politician is about to leave office, just pop over to Guido's Friday caption contest. I thought it hilarious that Crick or Hitchens could infer a gagging story on the Cameron photo as they watched Newsnight commission a bl**dy portrait of it. This is the same Crick who saw Blair's embarrassing photo 14 years ago but was unable to report on it, maybe he was scared of Mandelson or Campbell?
Jess the Dog: I agree with you that Blair has already been interviewed under caution.
I said at the time of his first interview that it made no sense for the police to do otherwise: they can't plausibly claim that he is not a suspect if so many of his immediate subordinates are. Also the only source we have for this and many other snippets about the enquiry is Mr Blair himself or his spokesmen.
It's no longer a rumour. The Beeb have it as their headline story on news at ten.
bbc 10 o'clock is leading with news of a gagging order
BBC 10pm news has just reported the injunction. Nick Robinson to report..
It was a rather bizarre lead on BBC1 and The World Tonight (R4) - with the sight of Nick Robinson standing outside Downing Street saying how he could say very little about the story (presumably his own) which the attorney general had obtained an injunction on this evening.
And he read out a BBC statement saying how they believed their reporting was in the public interest.
BBC just reported that it is in conjunction with "Cash For Honours".
Let's hope that someone somewhere out in the blogsphere has more information and can get it out.
Now should the Attorney General have acted upon the poodle's behalf?
Or if should they have had their own brief acting for them?
Another misuse of our money!
BBC confirms Dale
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6414113.stm
Well. It seems that the BBC has been gagged on a 'cash for honours' story by the High Court on an application by - guess who - Got it in one; Tony's mate, the Attorney General.
Those bald facts just reported deadpan on BBC News at 10.
Pretty clear that this is the prelude to meltdown for the Blair government.
Just confirmed on BBC website. Attorney General got an injunction.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6414113.stm
Last Updated: Friday, 2 March 2007, 22:11 GMT
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Attorney General halts BBC probe
The Attorney General has obtained an injunction against the BBC to stop it broadcasting an item about the cash for honours investigation.
The injunction was obtained on Friday night at a hearing which lasted around two hours at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
The Attorney General was successful in obtaining an injunction against the BBC.
The BBC said its reporting of the story is a matter of public interest.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6414113.stm
Attorney General halts BBC probe
The Attorney General has obtained an injunction against the BBC to stop it broadcasting an item about the cash for honours investigation.
Could this be a clue?
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23376761-details/Blair%20plots%20'cash%20for%20honours'%20revenge%20on%20police/article.do
The Beb may not be reorting the story, but they do say this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6414113.stm
"Attorney General halts BBC probe
The Attorney General has obtained an injunction against the BBC to stop it broadcasting an item about the cash for honours investigation.
The injunction was obtained on Friday night at a hearing which lasted around two hours at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, was successful in obtaining an injunction against the BBC.
The BBC said its reporting of the story is a matter of public interest."
Whatever the story actually is, Goldsmith can't come out of this with more than the already low esteem in which he is held by all.
why is this post labelled 'Lord Levy'. Inquiring minds wish to know.
erm do you not think having 'lord levy' as a tag to this article is a bit risky!?
Post a Comment