Guido Fawked – Sadiq Khan Cleared

Another campaign instigated by the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog has been turning out not necessarily to their advantage. Labour MP and road safety campaigner Sadiq Khan had been accused by the Fawkes folks of using his phone while at the wheel of his VW Golf, but after examining the evidence, the Met is not persuaded.

Do not let this man near the driving seat

As Zelo Street regulars may recall, The Great Guido had been sent a series of photos that, so they claimed, showed Khan using his phone while en route from his South London house to the Commons. They even gave out a number “for picture syndication”, in a customary show of rank pretentiousness. A complaint was subsequently made to the Police by Tory MP Justin Tomlinson.

However, and here we encounter a significantly sized however, the press outlets that did run the story – the photos are not clear enough to tell what Khan is holding in his left hand – had to caveat and qualify it rather heavily. Typical was the Mail, telling “he was accused of using his mobile phone while driving ... A picture sent to the Police appeared to show the ... MP for Tooting ... with a phone in his hand”.

And in any case, the thought soon entered that bad road behaviour and VW Golfs is a subject that Staines knows rather more about than he is letting on. It was back in 2008 that he was at the wheel of such a vehicle, somewhere between the Kennington Tandoori and Victoria Station, when the Met’s finest pulled him over. His own account of the incident is most revealing.

“I had been speaking at the Adam Smith Institute. They have made a lot of money so the booze is usually pretty good. I moved on with a few people to the Westminster Arms, where I bought drinks, and then to the Kennington Tandoori to show everyone the picture of Prezza on the wall. Then I was giving a few people a lift to Victoria station when the f***ers pulled me over”.

The Great Guido was banned from driving for three years – it was, after all, his second drink-driving offence – a three month 2100 to 0600 hours curfew enforced via electronic tag, and an 18 month supervision order. Yet here he was, sitting in judgment on what he and his pals say an MP was doing. Well, now the Met’s finest have made the call, and the Fawkes rabble have failed yet again.

As the BBC has reported, “The Met Police said that, after viewing all available information, there was ‘insufficient evidence to proceed’ ... a Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘All the available material has been assessed and a decision has been taken that there is insufficient evidence to proceed. Unless any additional evidence comes to light, there will be no further police action’”.

No comment yet from The Great Guido. Another fine mess, once again.