Guido Fawked - Piers Morgan U-Turn

As I noted back in 2014, the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog had, by throwing a tenth anniversary celebration for Themselves Personally Now, demonstrated that they had become part of the establishment they claimed to despise, no longer able to go after its members for fear of having their sources of funding summarily cut off. That establishment included most of the press.

At the time, Staines was still prepared to bluster that he and his pals were ready and willing to kick over the odd table to show they were still strong, but over time, fewer and fewer people believed him. One who knows The Great Guido is all wind and piss is former Screws and Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan.

Back in 2011, as the phone hacking scandal was being burst open by the efforts of Nick Davies and his colleagues at the Guardian, the Fawkes blog was trying to take the heat off the Murdoch goons at the Screws by suggesting not only that Morgan had been an active participant in hacking, but that his team would find the evidence and hand it to the Police. “I’ve taken cabinet ministers down, Downing Street’s toughest operators, they were smart people. Not boastful idiots like you” ranted Staines at Morgan. It didn’t work.

The Fawkes rabble tried to pin the Sven’n’Ulrika-ka-ka-ka hacking on Morgan and the Mirror. They could not have been more wrong. They then turned to the Paul McCartney voicemail left on then wife Heather Mills’ voicemail. Morgan didn’t do that, either - and they got the dates wrong. Part of their evidence, courtesy of (thankfully) former Tory MP Louise Mensch, was undermined when she retracted her claims about Morgan.

Still, on they ploughed, telling anyone who would listen “We’re taking our evidence to the Metropolitan Police”. As I said at the time, they should have gone right ahead, as the Met needed something at that point to give them a good laugh.

Eventually, the CPS put the lid on The Great Guido’s conspiracy theory when it declined to take any further action against Morgan. But Staines and his pals were still people of the highest principle, weren’t they? Er, no they weren’t, and no they aren’t: yesterday, missed by many as Morgan was drawing attention to himself over his attempts to turn Ewan McGregor’s no-show on Good Morning Britain into more publicity for Himself Personally Now, the Fawkes blog was completing a 180 degree U-Turn.

It seems like only yesterday

Putting out a post titled “‘Feminist’ Ewan McGregor Defended Child Rapist Polanski”, The Great Guido echoed the main theme of Morgan’s Mail Online meltdown which was published at about the same time. Morgan even Re-Tweeted the Fawkes folks to his legions of followers. Once more, “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which”. Paul Staines and his pals wanted to have Morgan nicked. Now they praise him.

Thus another example of a craven, grovelling establishment sellout: The Great Guido has gone from wanting to hold the rich and powerful to account to becoming a simpering fanboy, hoping they will throw him a biscuit. Another fine mess, once again.