Dan Wootton’s Big Question

Last Thursday, with impeccably bad timing, the loathsome Toby Young asked the question he may already have come to regret: what if Huw Edwards had been a presenter on Gammon Broadcasting™ News (“Bacon’s News Channel”)? What would the reaction of other broadcasters have been?

The resultant drivel was down to the usual standard, filled with false equivalences, Tobes claiming that others are the Establishment but that he, by inference at least, isn’t. There is also generous use of sneering pejoratives, such as “liberal-left”, “metropolitan liberals”and “bien pensant members of the media class”, the last two of which describe himself.

And he doesn’t understand the public interest defence, claiming that breaching someone’s privacy “isn’t a considered reaction, but a tribal one”. Horseshit. John Whittingdale and the dominatrix wasn’t a story until the potential for blackmail entered. Likewise, Tobes’ hero, disgraced former occasional Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, going to Bunga Bunga parties wasn’t a story until MI6 raised the spectre of Kompromat.

But the most damning feature of Tobes’ latest Not Very Clever Attempt To Remain Relevant is timing. He Tweeted out the link to his post at 0700 hours on Thursday: later that day, the weekly Popbitch email dropped, and one read through of that and the world and their dog knew what would happen if accusations had been made about a GB News presenter.

Here’s the relevant bit: “The Sun have been having a hell of a time trying to retrofit a public interest to their Huw Edwards story, pulling up any old incident of workplace misconduct they can find to pin on him now that the Police are saying there’s no evidence of any crime”. Do go on.

“It’s a shame they’ve put themselves in this position because if all they wanted was a story about a news broadcaster who has made life uncomfortable for colleagues by sending them ‘inappropriate messages’, they have a really juicy one closer to home. It will involve asking some difficult questions, but they have an excellent starting lead”. There was more.

“They should still have all of Dan Wootton’s old HR files stashed away somewhere - so maybe they could start there? There’s bullying allegations, NDAs, even a few pay-offs they could get the guys in Finance to dredge back up. While they’re doing that, they could look into why Wootton kept getting promoted while some of those who lodged complaints got sidelined”.

And yet more. “Former colleagues seem perfectly willing to chat - but hey, we shouldn’t be doing their job for them. Just start pulling at the thread. See what you find”. Well, well. Anyone who has a handle on the machinations of our free and fearless press knows that Dan Wootton is a deeply unpleasant individual, so the suggestion of serial misbehaviour come as no surprise.

What will also surprise no-one is that Wootton will most likely go after anyone asking inconvenient questions in a less than cordial manner. But then a thought enters: The Great Man is no longer a fixture at the Murdoch empire, so perhaps those still slaving away at the Baby Shard bunker may not feel duty bound to keep the zipper on the old North and South.

On top of that, there is more than one person now on Wootton’s case. Among their number is Mic Wright, who has confirmed “If the Daily Mail or News UK has protected Dan Wootton at your expense, get in touch. I’m reporting out this story now and I absolutely welcome letters from Dan’s legal team at Mishcon de Reya … I’d *love* to be able to compel discovery”.

Whatever happens, the loathsome Toby Young will still be able to profit from the outcome: look out for another post full of weapons grade garbage telling the world something along the lines of “why The Woke Liberal-Left Blob’s pursuit of poor Dan Wootton shows the Bien Pensant Media Class and the Metropolitan Liberal Establishment is taking revenge for Huw Edwards and why it should worry supporters of Free Speech everywhere”.

In other words, he’ll still be full of shit. This isn’t a left versus right thing. Nor is it establishment versus outsiders. Those now on Wootton’s case were equally unyielding when the target was Nick Cohen, now a former pundit at the Observer. This is an exercise based entirely on merit, or the lack thereof.

Meanwhile, Wootton won’t take this lying down. Cos he’s desperate, Dan.

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