Thursday, April 16, 2009

Guido Comes Out of the Shadows

Guido on Newsnight - The Sequel. And I swear to you he hasn't had any media training...

Click HERE.

UPDATE: Clearly my media whoring career is over. Guido also has an article in tomorrow's Times. It is quite simply brilliant, and will cause the Westminster lobby much anguish I suspect. As it should.

And Steve Richards writes in The Independent about the huge influence of Guido on the media.

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

I foresee that Guido will be around for quite some time. Provided the media training works out for him.

But he will be around a lot longer than the Labourlist will be.

Jeff said...

Sounds like must-see tv. I take it it is on this evening's show?

Administrator said...

Thanks for pointing me towards this video Iain!

It Will Come to Me said...

"And I swear to you he hasn't had any media training..."

...or sartorial advice by the look of it. What was his wife thinking letting him go out looking like that.

Jimmy said...

Now I understand why they usually show him in silhouette.

jailhouselawyer said...

Trumpet blow springs to mind.

Anonymous said...

Guido also guests in the Times..

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6108549.ece

Dungeekin said...

He gave a much better account of himself than he did on The Daily Politics.

And, as a result, a much better impression of the political Blogosphere.

Well done Guido.

D

Catosays said...

Yes, he comes over much better than in previous interviews I've seen.
Well done that man.

pxcentric said...

Hoon.

Daniel1979 said...

good interview, thanks

David Gregory said...

I'm not convinced that Paul wouldn't out an MP. He takes great delight in reposting Chris Bryant's Gaydar picture (although with abs like that I can't believe Mr Bryant is very upset about it) again and again.
So even out MP's will be exposed for using dating websites in Guido's world. Although it's certainly not hypocritical.
Otherwise he comes across well, but there's just this nagging feeling he is a bit of a homophobe.
Oh yes, and it would be nice if he could be half as sceptical towards the Irish government as he is to ours.

Darcy said...

All credit to him, this really isn't a bad effort; reasonably likeable, intelligent and coherent, unlike his previous attempts.

Now Guido has been trained to string a sentence together, maybe you could pitch a Guido/Dale political discussion show to Sky?

You know, good cop, bad cop. You distract the guests with charm and a natty tie and Guido kicks them in the nuts. Like Skinner and Baddiel for the Westminster Village.

I'll get my coat.

The Grim Reaper said...

What is the obsession at the moment with bloggers trying desperately to appear in the mainstream meeja? We've got Iain who seems to do about 27 newspaper reviews every night - I can only assume Sky pay pretty well - and now we've got Mr Fawkes appearing yet again.

Still, as long as nobody allows Chris Paul to appear on Newsnight, I think I'll live.

The Grim Reaper said...

Darcy said "Now Guido has been trained to string a sentence together, maybe you could pitch a Guido/Dale political discussion show to Sky?"

The Daley Guido Show, anyone?

Shouting Into The Void said...

Came to same thing as Dungeekin really. A much better interview than his previous ones I've seen.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

That was a very soft interview.

It certainly shows him as more articulate than he has appeared to be in previous outings.

His body language revealed that he was at ease with himself - contrast this with the twisted, jerky death rictus smiles being forced out of Brown and his cronies.

Gordon Brown said...

Oh Gawd, he has become sooooo MAINSTREAM!

Once you've done a BBC interview AND written for The Times, You're part of the establishment - personally, I would say he is fucted...

Guido Fawkes said...

Hold on - what people forget is I am often on in highly charged situations. The video before the Newsnight car crash was fine - you try taking on Paxo and Sir Michael in full flow in a dark room or Draper in full shouty mode.

Without crossfire and time to think Guido does fine.

Anonymous said...

He came over really well.

Although I disagree about the difficulty in accessing Hislop/Private Eye.

They lampooned me when I crossed the floor on Newham Council from Labour to the Conservatives. I was thrilled to appear in the publication so I rang them to thank the Rotten Boroughs editor, Tim Minogue (a really nice guy).

What developed from that call was Private Eye's brilliant dissection of Newham's parks constabulary (AKA the Keystone Kops) which I am sure was instrumental in the disbanding of the dysfunctional council department.

Jabba the Cat said...

No worries Guido, you will do just fine. Lets face it, if Mrs Dale can get to grips with the medium so will you. ;-))

Anonymous said...

I have to agree. Guido came across incredibly well in the vid.

Any Thoughts on an Internet news channel to rival that of the BBC?

Anonymous said...

Can anybody out there give us more on This story? As I for one, really would like to know more about it.

Cynic said...

Old habits die hard.

Gordon promised no more smears and that these things "have no place in politics. So imagine my shock when in Today's Times there is an article on Damien Green and Chris Galley in which anonymous 'Government sources' smear Mr Galley as a total loser because he used a Star Trek term as his computer password.

This will be this same Mr Galley whom Kier Stammer concluded acted 'in the public interest' in exposing 'matters of legitimate public concern'. The same Mr Galley who was prepared to put his job on the line to expose your Government's lies and cover up.

Awwww Gordon, you disappoint us. When you said you and the Government would change after Smeargate we aactually believed you. You promised that all of this had 'no place in Government' but did you forget to tell Jacqui or could you just not find out which of her many homes she was at to warn her of the change in policy?

We were genuinely impressed with your candour, quick response and taking of 'personal responsibility', even if you could force out an apology. We even saw Sir Gus issue a fatwah to SpAds on this and reassure us that all in No 10 had now been checked and there was nothing more to worry about. Honest.

But, what a difference two days makes. Smear, smear, smear they go again in a desperate attempt to hold onto power and distract from the real story - the way in which officials and Ministers lie to 'sex up' the nature of the leaks, get the police to make arrests and even see Mr Galley and Damien Green threatened with life imprisonment (in the Tower perhaps).

Bereft of ideas, policy and competence, you just cannot help yourselves can you. You really do need to go now.

By the way - 'live long and prosper' - but somewhere else please.

Hacked Off said...

It was excellent, Guido, asis your Times article. Wankers such as "Jimmy" are of course entitled to their opinions, coloured as they are by their tribal loyalty and current licking of wounds.

The Penguin

slipX said...

He'd better be careful. Because he's making waves It isn't unlikely that someone will try and stitch him up and destroy his reputation.

Ed said...

Mr Fawkes, you come across all cuddly, sympathetic and warm. Is this a good move on your part?

By the way, great product placement. I hope that Diageo paid handsomely for that. :-)

Unsworth said...

@ Guido

Yes, cross-fire is disconcerting, but timing is everything. People eventually stop shouting - and that's when you make the point.

Sometimes a measured silence speaks volumes. Watch Mandela. Alex Salmond can do it, too.

Michael CP said...

He won't have people talking about UFO's but has no problem with people calling themselves 'Gordon s*** my c***'!

javelin said...

Yes he's honest and amusing. He should remind journalists that their jobs should be fun and not full of fear of their political masters and political correctness.

The fun has gone out of life under New Labour - everying thing will be banned or manadatory. Ollie Cromwell indeed.

Targets have unintentionally politicised every branch of Government. New Labour have set targets, given powers snoop and arrest BUT have NOT made it an offence to try to cover up poor results. As a result the police and local Government abuse the public at will.

Dave H said...

He comes across as clever and surprisingly camp.

DespairingLiberal said...

Yes, it's all very charming and disingenuous, but is it for real? Clearly Iain Dale and Paul Staines are able to spend 100% of their waking hours blogging for the Tories. How do they really finance this? We have yet to be told. And please Iain, if you let this one through, can you explain how you get to run a full-time office in expensive central Westminster?

I am spending most of today threatening anyone I don't like very much with life imprisonment.

Iain Dale said...

Not that it is any of your business, my magazine has an office where I base myself. No doubt that is some sort of conspiracy too.

And just to add to your conspiracy, we're about to move offices.

Michael CP said...

anybody fancy a laugh?
http://lpuk.blogspot.com/2009/04/one-reason-why-you-should-not-vote.html

jafo said...

Guido came over as calm, articulate and TRUTHFUL. A nice normal guy who can spell "integrity" and wouldn't need anyone to explain to him what a principle is.
He was obviously at ease with himself and comfy in his own skin.
After this week, everyone in this country who values democracy (remember what that is?) owes him a debt.
What he also is, clearly, is brave - got more guts than the lobby have displayed, hasn't he?

DespairingLiberal said...

Clearly it's not any of "my business" on a personal level, but you both make much of your purity and the evil wickedness of those you critique, and both claim to be "independent" - it's the latter that is particularly difficult to swallow. It's up to you if you reply, but clearly we are not going to get a straight answer, as you just confirmed - "your magazine" is hardly proof of zero external support.

My basic assumption is that wealthy Tory backers are behind these activities and that they are co-ordinated in cahoots with Conservative Central Office.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic interview, this is the first time i have seen Guido Fawkes and lol he is human. I had to laugh at the bit when he said he would never be a Nick Robinson, well maybe not but Guido Fawkes with his laptop can certainly have just as much of an impact as Nick Robinson and his multi billion pound news corporation..!!

Iain Dale said...

Despairing Liberal, My site costs virtually nothing to maintain. I host the images on the TP server as there is spare capacity and it's something neither Webfusion or Fasthosts could do - the site kept crashing.

I know of no Tory blog, apart from ConHome, which gets any funding at all, and they have always been open that they are funded by Stephan Shakespeare.

I have never received a penny from anyone to support my blog. Why would I? I don't need an office. I mostly do it from home or my Blackberry. Funnily enough, when I am at work, I spend most of my time, er, working.

Ed said...

@DespairingLiberal

>>My basic assumption is that wealthy Tory backers are behind these activities and that they are co-ordinated in cahoots with Conservative Central Office.

Might I politely suggest that encapsulated in that one sentence is your basic problem. The problem of making such broad assumptions, even when there is evidence that points to the contrary.

I would also suggest you look up Occam's Razor and see how the lessons learnt there can usefully be applied in your situation.

Little Black Sambo said...

Despairing Liberal: "basic assumption" - says it all.

Lord Snooty said...

Guido Fawkes said:

"Without crossfire and time to think Guido does fine."

Huh? You mean if you're allowed to speak on your own in your own time you're able to articulate your thoughts? Stay in the shadows, Guido.

DespairingLiberal said...

Clearly it's nothing to do with physical cost of the website Iain. I am talking about your fulltime commitment to this blog. Nobody could possibly be turning out so much material day after day, round the clock, as you and Guido do, without external financial support.

Catosays said...

@Despairing Liberal.

the word 'critique' is a noun not a verb.

You are as bad as that tedious buffoon Jimmy who persists in rearing his ugly head. If you don't like it here then bugger off. I'm sure that Iain will refund you.

Anonymous said...

@ DespairingLiberal

I just do not understand why this "where the money comes from" mentality is so important!

Both Iain and Guido do a brilliant job in highlighting issues relating to MPs and what they get up to - the sort of things that SHOULD be covered by other, so called, news outlets.

I don't always agree with Iain but you have to love his gossipy style and the way each posting on his blog has all the flavour of a chat down at the pub.

Guido has to be admired for the fact that he'll have a go at anyone if there's something to have a go at.

I know many have asked a similar question about who funds LabourList. Personally, I couldn't give a flying fart about where the money for LabourList originates from; it's a brilliant blog - many of its Labour Party contributors talk shite yet they graciously allow critical comments which more often than not shoot down the main premise of the contributors argument... just what's needed prior to the next election, more power to them!