Shapps Murdoch Grovel Rumbled

After the bullying scandal broke over the Tory Party, following the death of young activist Elliott Johnson, it was widely seen as inevitable that former party co-chairman Grant “Spiv” Shapps, who had appointed alleged bully Mark Clarke to a formal role within CCHQ, would have to go. He duly went. But now Shapps is back, given a platform by the Telegraph, and making the kind of noises that will have one friend of the Tories smiling.

Why so? Well, apart from a suitably confessional interview given to “Senior Political Correspondent” Tim Ross, there is also an attack on BT over its broadband performance, urging the break-up of the company, based on “research” by none other than Grant Shapps, and written up by none other than “Senior Political Correspondent” Tim Ross, which, as you will understand, is a complete coincidence.

“Millions with ‘dire’ internet service … Coalition of MPs calls for BT’s monopoly of broadband cable network to be broken up” reads the headline, before readers are told that this allegedly dreadful state of affairs affects less than 10% of the population, a figure that is declining over time. “The research, published by Grant Shapps, the former Cabinet minister, says Britain’s network of ‘outdated’ copper cables must be entirely replaced with a super-fast ‘fibre’ system”, it is claimed. Which is happening anyway.

The confused logic brings forth gems such as “The poor service can leave customers waiting up to two hours to download an hour-long video, and have forced some businesses to close in the worst-affected parts of the country, the researchers say”. I’m struggling to figure out how a business closes for want of downloading an hour long video.

But the conclusion of Shapps’ “research” - no link is included in the article - is direct “BT’s Openreach division, which owns and maintains the cables, must be sold off to promote competition and improve the quality of internet services more quickly, the report says”. And who has endorsed the report? “Former Tory Cabinet ministers Owen Paterson and Liam Fox”. And that was the sound of its credibility vanishing down the plughole.

It got worse: “Mr Shapps said the public was furious with slow internet speeds. He added that he knew of individuals who had closed their businesses because of inadequate broadband speeds”. Don’t tell me, Michael Green and Sebastian Fox would be two of them, no? But enough of “Spiv” Shapps’ drivel: quite apart from a crude attempt to resuscitate his political career, this is aimed at just one other beneficiary.

Breaking up BT has been the clarion call of the Murdoch empire for some time now, as witness The Times’ “BT accused of hiding broadband failures”, and further talk of BT being broken up. The Sun ran with “VIRGIN Media has sent out a cheeky message to their internet broadband rivals BT … A team of stunning models spelt out the message ‘BT? Fast broadband? My arse!’ on their behinds in the stunt”.

So, with the help of the now-desperate Telegraph, Grant “Spiv” Shapps is angling for a way back from the wilderness to which he should have been consigned long ago, and sucking up to Creepy Uncle Rupe for a little backing. BT is a serious impediment to Sky’s ambitions. Why not get the Tories to put the boot in, as they are with the BBC? Shapps is shameless enough. The only problem is that his credibility is shot.