Tory Spin Merchant Caught Out Over PMQs "Edit"

It's one of those Monday's when I feel that light entertainment is the order of the day. In situations such as these, we are fortunate to have the output of the UK's number one political blogger to amuse us.

Iain Dale: Brown's Spin Merchants Caught Out Over PMQs Edit

You may remember that during PMQs on Wednesday that Harriet Harman is caught shaking her head when David Cameron says "can we ever believe a word the Prime Minister says?". Here's the BBC footage. It's a few seconds into the video. And here's the Sky footage which shows the same.

However, if you watch the version on the Number Ten website it has clearly been edited - or rather, Harriet Harman has been edited out. Click HERE and then click on October 10 WMV.

All broadcasters get the same feed. It can ONLY have been edited afterwards by the Number Ten Communications team. What a disgrace. They are public servants paid for by the taxpayer. They are not paid to save Harriet Harman's or the Prime Minister's embarrassment.

And people wonder why I refuse to promote Number Ten petitions. If this doesn't show that Brown's lot are spinning in exactly the way Blai's oppos used to, then I don't know what does.

I hope Iain has a spittle guard for his PC.

Here are two screenshots of an unrelated part of those same "edited" videos.

BBC

No 10

Can you spot the difference?

Yes, Downing Street's video is 4:3 format and the BBC's is 16:9. This is not a new innovation introduced specifically for this session. The result is that Harriet Harman can't be seen in the Downing Street version. She's is the 4:3 twilight zone.

This can ONLY be the result of a vast leftwing conspiracy, the Number Ten communications team clearly insisting on the 4:3 format when the service was launched because they knew this day would come. What a disgrace...

The comments are equally amusing. In the first, Michael P quite politely points out the undeniably fact that Iain is mistaken. Others joined in and Iain even felt the need to publish one of his famous non-retraction retractions:

UPDATE: A commenter reckons this is because on the No 10 website the videos are in 4:3 whereas the BBC & Sky use 16:9. That is entirely possible I suppose, but if you look at the Cameron wideshot it seems similar to the No 10 site, whereas when it goes to Brown the close-up is far more marked than you would expect.

How gracious. In fact, Iain has yet again refused to state that he was wrong and instead only points out that "a commenter reckons" he's talking complete nonsense. This then allows his band of barking seals to attack the credibility of the aforementioned commenter, despite the fact that he's made an entirely valid point. Like this from "bebopper":

I see the Labour trolls are back. Welcome back chaps. No doubt, you've been nursed in field hospitals during these trying times, hoping forlornly for a ticket back to Blighty.

Well, you're back on the front, so what have you got, apart from aprehension?
Has General Brown promised it will be all over by Christmas?

Textbook.

The entirely valid criticism now successfully dismissed, the thread can continue as normal. "Nice one bebopper" say the next two comments. The next, implicitly boosting the truth of Iain's claim, says "Poor Gordon, mocks and taunts ringing in his ears, no wonder he's becoming so sensitive! Maybe women we'll [sic] like him better now he's to be pitied?".

The modern classic, "The Left has never been about truth - it is about getting power." also makes an appearance in glorious ironicolour. The thread continues with various other comments in support of Iain's post.

And all of this is in a post bemoaning the disgraceful spinning of others. Now that's entertainment.

Moving Forward

Why do I get the feeling that this will be more Chucklevision than 2020 Vision? The website, and especially that photo (New Labour: now with added symbolism and sexiness and everything), almost provoked an inadvertent tea/nostril interface. My snort was somewhere between amusement and derision.

And Alan and Charles would clearly make excellent Chuckle Brothers. Which one has the guts, not gut, that's obviously Charles, the guts to stand against Gordon?

"To you." "To me." "To you." "To me..."

On the face of it, the project itself is not a bad idea. On the face of it. But there's obviously a bit more to it than that.

Personally, I'd very much like to see Brown face a credible challenger when Blair finally departs but there isn't exactly an abundance of those doing the rounds. Meacher and McDonnell have no realistic prospect of winning, Reid is the scariest man in British politics, Alan Johnson's bid was a busted flush, David Miliband has repeatedly ruled himself out and John Denham doesn't seem interested either.

And really, Milburn and Clarke? Politics is about the future not the past.

(Those philistines unfamiliar with the Chuckle Brothers artistic output can start their education here.)

In praise of proper light relief.

Totally agree. Meant to post about it during the first series but never got round to it. Get it!

Dedication oh, Dedication oh, Dedication

That's what you need

Exciting news this week as Nick Cohen's strawman is widely rumoured to have reached record breaking proportions. Sources are claiming that it is now so large that it entirely obscures his view of reality.

Officials from the Brewers Book of Really Big Things were set to measure the strawman on Sunday but eventually had to admit defeat. Embarrassingly, they had not brought anything with them big enough to measure it with. In a statement, a spokeman for the famous reference work said that a custom built device was now under construction and that it may take weeks to complete.

Under questioning by our intrepid reporter, he was forced to concede that no-one had ever imagined you could build a strawman that big. He went on to stress that he could not officially confirm that a new record had been set until accurate measurements had been properly recorded.

Greatest Challenge

"The truth is, this may be one of our greatest challenges" he added.

Another attempt to measure the strawman is expected sometime in early March.