Guido Fawked - Dissing His Own Friends

A strange “Sponsored Post” appeared yesterday on the Guido Fawkes blog, domain of the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble, entitled “Cameron’s Former Speechwriter Slaps Down Tory MP Over FOBTS”, that acronym meaning Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, the subject of much controversy due to their being alleged to contribute a strongly addictive element to High Street gambling.

Feared. But only by dodgy furniture

“Therese Coffey MP went out to bat for the bookmakers once more, after David’s Cameron’s former speechwriter Clare Foges delivered a scathing attack on fixed odds betting terminals in the Daily Mail” began the post, clearly having a go at a Tory MP in a most un-Fawkes like way. After all, The Great Guido is also the great libertarian, and if bookies want to install FOBTs on their premises, why would he object?

And it isn’t only Ms Coffey getting the stick: the Select Committee “included Therese Coffey, who enjoyed a trip to Macau, yet only found the time to visit one betting shop on a chaperoned visit. It later emerged that Philip Davies had not declared hospitality from Ladbrokes before he quizzed the CEO of Ladbrokes during the committee inquiry, as well as a ‘subscription’ of almost £5,000 a year from a company linked to BetFred”.

The Fawkes blog kicking tell-it-like-it-is Philip Davies? It certainly is. And it gets yet more un-Fawkes like: “The bookies aren’t afraid of underhand lobbying tactics. The Guardian last week revealed that the head of the Responsible Gambling Trust at the time Ms. Coffey was helping draft the Select Committee report was also lobbying for the bookmakers as well as taking charge of research into yes - you guessed it - FOBTs”.

Citing the hated Guardian? Then there was more on Ms Coffey: “She is also a member of the Free Enterprise Group, which is supported by the Institute of Economic Affairs - a ‘think tank’ funded by the tobacco industry, and which does not declare who their donors are. In 2013 the IEA produced a report downplaying the capacity of FOBTs to induce addiction. Could this have been the fruits of a donation from the bookies?”

The IEA getting stick from the Fawkes blog? The same IEA that in February 2014 approvingly quoted the Fawkes folks in a press release? The same IEA whose front man Ryan Bourne was praised by Staines in June 2014 as he Tweeted “BOURNE SUPREMACY: IEA Wonk Slaps Down Wife-Beater Piketty”? The same IEA at which Staines spoke to an event only last October?

Why would the Fawkes rabble suddenly decide to stand inside the tent and start pissing in? But then, this is another of those “Sponsored Posts”. And the Fawkes blog has not been too proud about where the money comes from in the past, notably the Russian state for one, as Zelo Street noted at the time. The IEA, though, might have thought they were pals with The Great Guido, and thus immune to such underhand tactics.

One might conclude that Staines is so desperate for the dosh that he’ll willingly crap all over those pals - if the price is right. Another fine mess, once again.