Guido Fawked - Miliband Smear Fail

As if to rubberstamp Peter Jukes’ thought that the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog are becoming “A disownable branch of Conservative HQ”, the already thin veneer of reality was cast to the wind yesterday afternoon as a copy of Mil The Younger’s election address to his constituents in Doncaster North passed before their inspection. This had to be instantly hatcheted.

Fart in lift Inquiry papers over cracks

And, from the looks of it - the shonky grammar is a dead give-away, too - this task fell to the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole, whose enthusiasm clearly got the better of him. “Miliband Fakes Local Support on Own Leaflet” proclaimed the headline. Was any of the support described by the Fawkes folks faked? Well, no it wasn’t: all three individuals used in example are real people. So no faking was taking place.

Worse, the idea that Miliband was doing anything improper was also wrong. But, even though his trousers were already starting to smoulder, Master Cole was clearly up for a thorough smearing. He claims Miliband “has not managed to find any ‘real’ people to endorse him, instead picking Labour Party organisers to masquerade as ordinary local people”. Remember that - “Labour Party organisers”. Because it’s not true.

Behold a stuffed shirt ...

First to pass before Cole’s examination is retired midwife Cynthia Bunting, of whom he asserts “That would be local party member Cynthia Bunting who helps organise and promote fundraisers for Ed in the constituency”. The link now brings up the Fawkes blog post: yesterday afternoon it linked to Doncaster local paper The Star, telling that she had attended a fundraising event. But evidence of being an organiser was there none.

So that’s one whopper from the flannelled fool. Could he double down? You betcha, says Sarah: next up came community activist Tony Sockett, of whom Cole tells “That would [be] Tony Sockett who just happened to be a Labour councillor in Doncaster”. Past tense - Sockett left office almost four years ago. And, again, no evidence of his being a “Labour Party organiser” is provided. So that’s another whopper.

... and behold his stuffed post

Three in a row? Why not, eh? Adam Davey, described as a “working Dad”, attracts the Cole ire too: “That would be local party supporter Adam Davey”. Of course he’s an intercoursing local party supporter, meathead, otherwise he wouldn’t be on the sodding leaflet. But for the third time, nothing to back up the claim that he is a “Labour Party organiser”. Those pants are now well ablaze.

And the worst aspect of this? Not that the Fawkes blog’s readers are told, or the original credited, but this appears to be lifted from Andy McSmith’s Independent diary column from the previous day. The difference is that McSmith’s piece was factually accurate. “This must be what Labour meant when they promised ‘less fear and more honesty’ in this campaign” concludes Cole. More honesty than he manages would not be difficult, would it?

And one can conclude thus with no fear at all. Another fine mess, once again.