Guido Fawked – More Union Porkies

One well-worn and well-known tactic employed by the rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog is to loudly and aggressively accuse opponents of doing exactly what the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his tame gofer, the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole, are doing, in order to deflect attention and criticism. Thus they spin and sock-puppet, while accusing everyone else of doing likewise.

Harry wrote it cos I was in the bar, oh sod it, no, conference. Yeah, in the conference bar, oh shit no, I mean hall. Conference hall. That's it, I was in the conference hall bar. Oh bollocks

The practice has been in evidence this morning as the Laurel and Hardy of the blogosphere have issued another slice of spin on the subject of Trade Union facility time, on which Francis Maude is claiming he will take action to save money, while not telling how the various duties undertaken by workplace representatives will either miraculously disappear or be performed for free.

“Last night the BBC website ran what was basically a press release from Mark Sewotka’s PCS Union damning Francis Maude’s decision” ranted the flannelled fool in faux outrage. The BBC had done no such thing: its crime was to report not just what the Government was saying, but to include a response from the union side. Thus the Fawkes blog’s attitude to free speech is revealed.

I can't be spinning, cos I'm on telly!

The Fawkes folks then project supposed Government outrage towards the hated Beeb: “Guido hears that the Beeb are getting it in the neck from the Cabinet Office for failing to check this out”. This is a pack of lies. The Fawkes blog has heard nothing, as there is nothing to hear. The Cabinet Office is not complaining, and has not complained. There has been no failure to check anything.

What the flannelled fool is unhappy about is that the union side has quoted “Government figures”. This is a problem? All that the union has done is to refer to a 2007 DTI Consultation Document (“Workplace representatives: a review of their facilities and facility time”, see HERE [.pdf]). So there has been neither spin, nor dishonesty on the union’s part (unlike both from the Fawkes blog).

And both spin and dishonesty come together as Master Cole makes one last and characteristically blatant howler: “It turns out these ‘Government figures’ are from 2007, under Gordon’s Labour Government” he blusters. The date on the DTI report, clearly visible on the first page, is January 2007. The Prime Minister at that time was Tone, not Pa Broon, who did not take over until June of that year.

So when the Fawkes blog tells that “Union spin unravels once again”, they are right. Except that the union spin that has unravelled is theirs. Another fine mess, once again.