Sunday, January 13, 2008

On News 24 at 7.30pm

In my role as Tory attack dog impartial political commentator I shall be on News 24 at 7.30pm sticking it to Peter Hain providing a balanced view on the political future of the Rt Hon Peter Hain MP... and picking up my wallet which I somehow managed to leave at the BBC last night.

26 comments:

Daily Referendum said...

Mind your back. I don't mean from would be attackers, I mean when you pick your wallet up.

Alan Douglas said...

I hope you will have one of those "No Ifs, No Buts" posters with you to draw the contrast between what Hain's department threatens, and what he expects of himself ?

Alan Douglas

kinglear said...

Do you mean noone stole it? The BBC has just gone up in my admiration....

Anonymous said...

Insert your own Verityesque gag about "You might as well leave your wallet there permanently, evil tax-sucking leftie leeches" etc etc etc.

Anonymous said...

The question is, will your wallet be heavier or lighter?

Man in a Shed said...

Good interview- I especially liked how you managed to introduce the part about the annual budget of the electoral commission being greater than that of the Conservative party.

Daily Referendum said...

My God, was that news reader Gordon Brown in a mask? He must know that the Osborne story is a non-story, yet he still insisted on continually bring it up. I think you did well to hold your temper.

Andrew James said...

Well done Iain, putting Hain (and Chris Lowe) firmly in their respective places. The BBC have stuck with the ridiculous comparison between Hain and Osborne all day. It's a total nonsense and hopefully they will be shamed when PH resigns/is pushed.

John M Ward said...

Iain

You did well against what was a fairly obvious attempt to do exactly what the Labour people do in such situations, which (as we have all seen) is to try to fling mud over others.

The captions -- which you won't have seen -- did the same, such as: "Osborne failed to fully declare £487,000" and "Osborne under fire for not declaring funds".

The only caption on the other side says simply "David Cameron defends Shadow Chancellor", which could be read in at least two obvious ways, and I'm sure that was deliberate.

On another subject: I hope you remembered to pick up your wallet!

Anonymous said...

I am glad to say that the Labour Party frontman was bested by you. Every day, the Jeremy Hunt proposal that part of the iniquitous tv licence tax is diverted elsewhere carries ever more weight.
Why should we have to pay for Brownite propaganda?

Geezer said...

Nobody else gives a shit about the Osbourne story, except the BBC! They are just conduits of Labour spin.
Shameful organisation.

Anonymous said...

Iain, glad to hear you noticed your wallet's missing. Since you can detect this, perhaps you should be appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions?

After all, the current minister can't account for £100,000 and only remembers to enquire into it when pressed by the media.

Anonymous said...

I thought you did quite well. You looked slimmer - but did you have a spray tan? :)

Iain Dale said...

Thanks for your feeback. I have to say I thought i was a bit rubbish, so it's good to hear that wasn;t the general consensus!

And Canvas, yes I have lost weight and no I did not have any makeup. That is my natural colour I'm afraid...

zendo said...

You certainly were not 'a bit rubbish.'
You were slick and professional and I thought it was an excellent interview.

Jeremy Jacobs said...

Was your wallet intact?

Twig said...

How do the BBC get away with it?
Isn't there supposed to be some quango overseeing them to ensure they observe the Charter?

Paul Burgin said...

"Nobody else gives a shit about the Osbourne story, except the BBC! They are just conduits of Labour spin.
Shameful organisation."

That might be the case, but if this was a Labour politician, a lot of you would be up in arms and wanting some blood, as well you know
Incidentally Iain you were professional as usual, even if I did tend to disagree ;)

Anonymous said...

You was cool on the BBC last night!
Very clear,not one hesitate in sight
Yeh, you did alright!!

Anonymous said...

Iain, you have a great natural colour then.

By the way, there is no such thing as a 'general consensus'. It's a consensus. :) Sorry, but it's true!

Alex said...

@Paul Burgin:

On the contrary, if this was a Labour (or any other) politician, we would let this pass because we know perfectly well that this is like any other spending of money by a political party, and the money spent by the party on Osborne's office was already registered.

It is obviously an attempt, and a fairly lame one at that, to muddy the waters and to try to drag the Conservatives into the same gutter that Hain is lying in. It is transparently obvious what is going on. It makes the BBC look bad, and the Labour Party worse.

Unsworth said...

@ Paul Burgin

"That might be the case, but if this was a Labour politician, a lot of you would be up in arms and wanting some blood, as well you know"

A lot of who, exactly?

Do you have the slightest idea of who reads this blog? Evidence, please? Or are we being subjected to your own personal bias?

Paul Burgin said...

Unsworth from what I have read on the comments sections on Iain's blog over the past year or two, I have noticed that a no of the contributors are anti-Labour, and in some cases hold a considerable amount of prejudice againt the Labour Party. Now I am not expecting anything different, but when Labour hits problems, nearly any problem that doesn't show it in a good light some of you are up in arms, George Osborne can't properly account for £487.000, nearly half a million, and you get all defensive rather than at the least making an issue of it if it were a leading Labour figure. Again I wouldn't (sadly) expect anything different, but at least spot the inconsistency!

Iain Dale said...

Paul, after your comments on Newsnight tonight, I suspect you may need a few friends!

Now, I have to take you up on your comments on Osborne. You allege he can't properly account for the money. As you well know he declared it fully to the Electoral Commission so that proves he can account for it. He then enquired whether it should be registered with the Register of Members; Interests and was told that it needn't be (see Red Box blog for the emails). End of story. Now, would you like to withdraw that allegation?

Paul Burgin said...

Iain I noticed that you didn't publish my apology. I am rather disapointed, esp as I made it clear that I realised that my previous comment did not come out well and that whilst I thought Osborne was silly not to double check I did not think he was being malicious.
The only reason I said he was being silly not to double check was the sheer volume of money, we are talking nearly half a million here. Plus you can hardly say I am criticising Osborne because he is a Conservative when you and one or two others have pointed out I have stuck my neck out to say that Peter Hain should resign.
Once again I apologise for standing on anyones toes on this issue.

Paul Burgin said...

Thanks Iain, was worried a barney was going to occur, which I try and avoid and I am involved in politics :/ (shrugs shoulders)