Comments on: The story Iain Dale won’t tell you

By: Mark Pack

Mark Pack — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 11:21:46 +0000

Iain – I think you’ve missed the thrust of the hypocrisy question – at least to my mind – which is that in some cases you are very keen for parties to pay back money and in other cases you are, err…, not.

You present the “pay back the money” argument as being a principled one, so it should then be applied across the board shouldn’t it?

And that means if a party leader, even your own, has had their fundraising operation ruled out of order, then you should be saying “pay it back” or (agreeing that we’re all political bloggers) saying nothing, rather than saying an apology is enough.

By: Antony Hook

Antony Hook — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:27:01 +0000

Fair enough.

By: Rob Fenwick

Rob Fenwick — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:29:10 +0000

I have to say (I also said this on Norfolk Blogger's blog this morning) I agree with Iain on this. We're party political bloggers, not impartial news agencies. That said - I think Lib Dem Voice has run plenty of stuff on Michael Brown, both on the public blog and in the members-only area.

By: Iain Dale

Iain Dale — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:27:50 +0000

Antony, absolutely true. And I don;t deny it. But why would you find that odd? I don;t expect to see long articles on LibDem Voice on the Michael Brown issue, and I haven’t been disappointed. So don’t try and take the moral high ground on this because you are not entitled to. My blog is a Conservative blog. As I have already said above, I commented on the Cameron thing in a Comment thread and made clear that I disapprove of any activity which could be interpreted in a ‘cash for access’ manner. David Cameron immediately apologised after the ruling in sharp contrast to other politicians who have had been ruled against by Sir PhiliP Mawer.

By: Antony Hook

Antony Hook — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:05:53 +0000

Iain,

I like your Diary, and might have told you so when I saw you on the Sevenoaks train.

But you know in your heart that if any other party had been selling these dinners you would have had a lot more to say about it.

Your Diary is like the whole Cameron-thing, intersting at first glance but too often leaving doubts later that it isn’t old fashioned Toryism.

By: Rob Fenwick

Rob Fenwick — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 09:07:46 +0000

for example there was nothing about the Burnley vote fraud trial/convictions.

There was, but at the time I thought it better to cover it in the ‘members only’ bit. I think at the time I was getting it in the neck for running too many ‘unhelpful’ stories

By: Linda Jack

Linda Jack — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 08:41:04 +0000

I have been pondering this one. Mr C is very sorry for being a naughty boy and clearly believes that is enough………..hmmm, in my job I think what he did may be regarded as “gross misconduct” and I am sure however grovelling my apology was – it might not swing it.

By: ColinW

ColinW — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:57:44 +0000

4. Exactly. Typical Tory hypocrisy. Just like their deafening silence over al-Yamamah & BAE because of their links to Wafic Said & the wodge of cash they got from Mrs Said.

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 02:33:51 +0000

By the way,how many Tory councillors have defected to the Lib Dems in the last two years?

By: Mark Pack

Mark Pack — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 23:31:33 +0000

And your blog posting (a word used deliberately instead of comment) is where …?

By: Iain Dale

Iain Dale — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 23:29:59 +0000

Not true. I commented on it twice in this thread https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6214838&postID=469445909040271912

By: Hywel Morgan

Hywel Morgan — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:43:15 +0000

There’s no reason why LDV should be balanced.

I’m not even sure it’s true to say that LDV is balanced about reporting stories which are not useful for the party – for example there was nothing about the Burnley vote fraud trial/convictions.

By: Antony Hook

Antony Hook — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:02:59 +0000

I don’t think it’s on Conservative Home either.

This just goes to show that Iain Dale’s blog and Conservative Home are one-sided pro-party mouthpieces and nothing more.

Lib Dem Voice reports plenty of things that are not politically useful for the Lib Dems.

It’s called balance or honesty and it’s a good reason to be a Lib Dem.