Mr Draper wrote: "While I do think it is right that we hold our opponents accountable our tone has sometimes been wrong. On the specifics of Iain Dale I do think he should have condemned Carol Thatcher when she used the term Golliwog but I have never said he was a racist. "From what I know – and hear of him – I don´t believe him to be prejudiced at all, and actually a rather decent guy, just wrong about that particular issue. If I ever suggested other than that I apologise to him too." Mr Dale has now lodged a Freedom of Information request with the Cabinet Office to try to establish whether Mr McBride was directly involved in the smearing of his reputation on the LabourList web site. He said: "I was told the whole thing had been dreamt up in Downing Street to try to destroy my reputation as a blogger. In effect, Damian McBride sent an email to Derek Draper giving him his orders on how to smear me. Some say that Mr McBride wrote the blog himself."
For what it is worth, I accept his apology. I think it is now dawning on Derek just what he has done and that his position as editor of LabourList is now increasingly untenable. He says he will make a decision on his future after a week of reflection. I hesitate to offer him friendly advice, but he should decide soon, because any delay merely keeps the story alive.
31 comments:
I think he is hoping it will all die down and he will get to carry on; I hope that does not happen, he should go.
I am glad you got a much deserved apology, it has become too easy to brand comments and people as racist. As soon as the R-Word is used, the point of whatever was being debated gets lost.
What about Kate Garroway , she is still hiding and her job is taken by the younger better looking one.
She has to agree with Draper and like him, what on earth does that say about her as a person ?
Is it tenable for her to appear on Television in light current affairs shows when she is in bed with a rancid unhinged Labour boot boy every night ? They must swap plots to destroy David Cameron and anyone who supports him by any means over the pillow and I do not want to see her on GMTV or anything else .
It would be poetic justice if Kate Garroways lots her job and then ( on past form) she would soon lose Draper as well. I bet she already wishes she had left him to blub about how he used to be a big shot on his own .
Kate Garroway get off , you are past it anyway.
Just spotted his desk for sale on Ebay
Perhaps, Iain, you should give your attention to the piece on conservativehome stating that homosexuals are deviant...
What is Drapers word worth? The man is a joke and a rather scruffy sweaty looking joke at that. Its long over due for him to crawl back under the rock from wence he came. The trouble is the labour party must be running out of willing volunteers to do their dirty work now the writing is on the wall for them. Whats the odds that Draper and McPoison will be working for them again at the next election.
In the same week that Mr Draper was getting worked up about this, the BBC used selective editing to portray the Lindsey strikers (from the Union that pays his bills) as racist. It was latter forced to apoligse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/06/bbc-misleading-edit-wildcat-strike
Draper never even mentioned them, it seemed clear to me then that his Carol Thatcher witchhunt was part of a wider news management agenda.
Newmania, with whom do you swop plots to destroy Kate Garroway?
Do you fail to see the similarity between your nasty remarks and McBride's about Mrs Osborne?
By all means vent your spleen on Derek Draper, but going for his spouse is wrong.
Iain, you are a decent chap, right enough.
That apology from Draper was not a real apology.
"Mummy I am sorry... that you found me stealing from your purse... but I am not sorry I stole from it."
Or as the wv puts it slymothe
By the way, Derek Draper admits in The Guardian that he "attracts trouble". That's not true. Draper causes trouble, then panics when things go badly for him.
Do you think Draper possesses enough sincerity and integrity for an apology to be worth anything?
Are they not on hols this week? In the Canaries or somewhere like that?
I think the word "smear" is being used too vaguely now. Guido's been at it too this morning conflating what looks like fair comment and absolutely reasonable banter from Tom Watson with the "S" word.
Derek's opinion was that you should not have stuck up for Ms Thatcher. He called you an apologist. I think, though I'm not going to check, that it was you and yours that said he was calling you racist. He wasn't and being true that you had stuck up for Thatcher which is what he said it wasn't much of a smear now was it?
McBride should be sacked if that's the best he can come up with ... he has been? Quite right too. His smear on Iain was utter crap.
The whole Carol Thatcher business was quite mystifying. Could anybody have genuinely minded about her use of the word "golliwog"? Utterly manufactured outrage, surely?
In the words of this Scouser, Draper's gorra go!
Throughout this whole episode, he has come over as nowt more than a complete patsy.
Drapes, stick to what you know, whatever that is.
I would have thought both McBride and Draper were effectively unemployable now. Which probably means they'll be in Liebore's election team.....which will be unemployable after it.
I hope Draper stays.
I expect McPoison will still have a taxpayer funded job. hence the "no payoff".
Draper is ideal to represent a Party run rather like a Ma=fia family: metaphorical death to anyone who dissents with the Godfather.
New Labour? Nope. New Mafia.
Draper is ideally suited for that.
I think it gracious of you to accept Draper's apology.
I remain sceptical about him and his motives and the timing.
Surely the reason why derek draper was put in charge of labourlist is that he is some one who they could trust and control.
Isnt the puppet master of the Labourlist site is Charlie Whelan?
The silence is deafening as far as Charlie Whelan's involvement is concerned....
Draper needs to stay as the editor of LabourList. Indeed, he needs to write for them far more often than he does now. Perhaps Tim Ireland can make himself useful and set up a blog dedicated to this purpose?
Every single day that he remains one of the faces representing Labour, they will continue to haemorrhage votes. That can only be a good thing.
Harold Wilson said "A week in politics is a long time". Surely, Draper does not need that much time to decide he is not welcome anymore?
"In effect, Damian McBride sent an email to Derek Draper giving him his orders on how to smear me."
This would be the same e-mail Stains claimed to be about to publish weeks ago would it? And is there any reason why you wouldn't have seen it yet? If it existed?
That's why I put in the FOI, which is in progress. As you well know.
@ Chris Paul
"McBride should be sacked if that's the best he can come up with ... he has been?"So you don't understand the difference between being sacked and resigning? Well, McBride certainly does - as does Brown.
Let's not be too silly about this. Labour apologists wish to give the impression that McBride has been cut off and cast out. That is utter garbage. McBride knows too much for that to happen. They'll be keeping him sweet for some time yet.
"That's why I put in the FOI, which is in progress. As you well know."
I'm sure you're not being obtuse Iain, but I'm wondering why Guido hasn't let you take a look. And why for that matter he reneged on his promise to publish it.
"McBride knows too much"
Not an accusation frequently hurled your way I suspect.
@ Jimmy
"I'm sure you're not being obtuse Iain, but I'm wondering why Guido hasn't let you take a look. And why for that matter he reneged on his promise to publish it."
Did you possibly think you might ask Guido those questions?
Clown.
I'm asking Iain rather than Guido because, political differences aside, he strikes me as a decent and straightforward individual.
If you want Guido's answer then go ahead and ask him.
Jimmy
@ Jimmy
You asked the question, didn't you? Why the hell should I ask Guido a question that you have raised? Anyway Iain is under absolutely no obligation to respond to your inanity. Are you actually seeking information or merely pissing about?
But the real question is: How much of a moron are you?
Hang on. I wonder if the Carol Thatcher thing was part of the smear campaign?
Obviously. She must have been in on it too.
@ jailhouselawyer
Where on the ConservativeHome website does it say that homosexuals are deviants?
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