Sunday, November 30, 2008

Mirror Journalist Undermines His Own Clegg Exclusive

The Sunday Mirror has what looks quite a good story about Nick Clegg slagging off his LibDem colleagues - but if you read it you'll see it doesn't quite stack up. Their intrepid reporter, Adam Lee-Potter (son of Lynda) sat in the seat in front of Clegg on a flight to Inverness (strange, though the LibDems didn't approve of internal flights - but I digress). He overheard Clegg talking in very disparaging terms about his colleagues and his plans for a frontbench reshuffle. And this is where the story becomes unstuck. Lee-Potter clearly not only doesn't have a clue about politics, he isn't very good at research. Take this...
He revealed his dislike for Steve Webb, his Environment spokesman, and decided to demote Chris Huhne, his former leadership rival and currently Home Affairs spokesman, before adding he wasn’t “emotionally intelligent” enough for the environment job.

So a move from Environment to Home Affairs is a demotion in Adam Lee-Potter's view, is it? And there's more...
He finally decided on David Laws for Environment, but only because “he’s not enjoying Education”, Goldsworthy for Education and Webb for Justice – currently Chris Huhne’s job.

Er, that would be the same Chris Huhne who is mentioned above as Home Affairs spokesman, would it? And to think, Mr Lee-Potter was actually being paid to write this crap! It comes to something when a journalist undermines his own exclusive.

Does anyone actually still buy the Sunday Mirror?
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13 comments:

  1. CalaisNovember 30, 2008 2:51 am

    Er, he says " decided to demote Chris Huhne, his former leadership rival and currently Home Affairs spokesman,.."

    Its not a "move from Environment to Home Affairs..", its the reverse.

    Time to re-engage the english half of the brain?

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  2. Stuart WintonNovember 30, 2008 6:12 am

    The Lib Dems' website describes Chrish Huhne as:

    "Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Secretary for Justice"

    To that extent the article isn't contradictory, but it might have been better if the journalist had been consistent with his description of Huhne's portfolio instead of splitting it in half and using the two halves at diffent points in the story, thus appearing contradictory to anyone but Lib Dem anoraks!

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  3. Dick the PrickNovember 30, 2008 8:37 am

    Schoolboy error. Does anyone buy the Mirror?

    Trinity own my local rag and it's gone from Mrs Miggins creates brilliant new cake (news in anyone's world) to tales of woe and depravity - may just be new editor but bad pitch nonetheless.

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  4. Mrs SmallprintNovember 30, 2008 8:57 am

    They buy the Mirror, but not for its political journalism......

    Has he got an editor?

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  5. MitchNovember 30, 2008 9:10 am

    never have never will.

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  6. AnonymousNovember 30, 2008 10:04 am

    OT but I hear that Carol Vorderman has just given Jacqui Spliff a pasting on the Andrew Marr show ... now she could definitely become a populist heroine ... sign her up !

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  7. UnknownNovember 30, 2008 11:21 am

    I think you've misunderstood this, Iain. He's considering Huhne (currently Home Affairs and Justice) for a move to environment (clearly a demotion), then rejects even that.

    I think that by talking about Webb as spokesman for Justice, he may be cntemplating splitting the portfolio so that, perhaps, Huhne retains Home Affairs and Webb gets Justice, effectively demoting both men (I think Justice on its own probably ranks below Environment in the Lib Dem view of the world).

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  8. Iain DaleNovember 30, 2008 11:52 am

    Simon, I did read that bit several times and agree that it is open to interpretation - which makes the writing even worse!

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  9. UnknownNovember 30, 2008 12:48 pm

    Anyway, it's the Lib Dems, so who really cares?

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  10. Nich StarlingNovember 30, 2008 1:19 pm

    Iain, generally a good piece, but to equate Lib Dem opposition to flights from London to Manchester with those to the highliands of Scotland is "pushing the envelope".

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  11. AnonymousNovember 30, 2008 9:23 pm

    Norfolk Blogger makes a good point but its not the one he intends.

    It might well make sense to fly to Inverness - especially for business. But having set up the airport and aircraft infrastructure is it not even more sensible to fly to places like Glasgow Edinburgh Aberdeen, etc?

    Likewise once someone has gone to the trouble to buy a car then does it not make sense to get value for money out of it by taking it to the supermarket to work to take the family on holiday and the mother in law to the churchyard?

    No, to LabLibDem its just an object of prejudice and a source of envy and taxation.lediast

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  12. HannibalDecember 01, 2008 9:26 am

    Lee-Potter, son of Linda, is proof positive of Thomas Paine's old maxim that there is nothing "as absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet laureate" .

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nick ThornsbyDecember 02, 2008 10:49 pm

    Hi Iain,

    I posted on Comment central that the 'journalist' refers to Nick Clegg "nodding" in response to something D. Alexander said, but I don't see how he would be able to see Clegg nodding.

    If my memory serves me right, it's actually pretty difficult to see the person behind you on a plane without completely inconspicuously turning around.

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