It looks like my friend Iain Dale has already thrown in the towel, he’s gone back to blogging instead of Chief-of-Staffing for Basher. What does this mean? Does Iain suspect he may not be ensconced in the Leader of the Opposition’s office next week?

Hat-tip: Backbencher

The BBC kindly gives the award some coverage, but despite a couple of emails, no comment, so far, from the nominees. Marina? Ephraim? Now we all know they read this blog, why no reply?

When The Sun was looking for someone right-wing and reactionary enough to replace Littlejohn who came into Rebekah Wade’s mind? Why disgraced former minister David Blunkett of course, his “forthright and outspoken views on life and politics” will be aired in a weekly column starting tomorrow.

A socialist resident of Belgravia, Blunkett made £91,000 on top of his parliamentary salary last year.

Guido has been looking for an excuse to use this picture of a worse-for-wear Blunkett making a grab for a dog.

Incidentally, Rebekah Wade’s so butch husband can dance!

Hat-tip : Bloggerheads

A 39-year-old, who is openly gay, telegenic and an elite university graduate, has become leader of the Parti Québécois, the main Quebec sovereigntist party in Canada.

His previous cocaine use caused a scandal, leading to his resignation as a cabinet minister. But when his rivals tried to use it against him as he challenged for the leadership of the party, it backfired and made him popular with younger voters. He is the first openly gay leader of a North American major political party and is leading a revival of the PQ’s fortunes. He went to Harvard, not Oxford and is no family man, but there is a lesson there somewhere….

Andre Boisclair rolled over his rivals last week, his sexuality never becoming an issue in the leadership campaign. Instead his past cocaine use dominated the race even though Boisclair refused to discuss how often he did the drug when he was a cabinet minister or who supplied it to him.

Shortly before his cocaine use became front-page news, he was confronted over his wild lifestyle while in government. Muttering a few now-familiar lines about youthful indiscretions, Boisclair blushed and just kept quiet. It worked.

Only a week to go… The spin-rumour is that Basher Davis might not be offered defence, if the result is a landslide he might be offered a lesser post. When Davis was still in the running he emphasised his commitment to Third World issues, “Commentators talk about the wristband generation. I want to win the wristband generation for the Conservative Party.”

Guido thinks he should be given the chance to do just that as shadow Overseas Development minister, and if he doesn’t accept…

UPDATE : Davis campaign source emails to say Guido is mis-quoting and Basher WOULD accept Overseas Development post. Sky News video download is not working, so can’t check. Somebody email Guido the exact quote please….

UPDATE : This article has now been heavily edited to correct mis-quote. Davis team source emails again to say he did not say Davis would or would not accept Overseas Development. Diplomatically reminding Guido that the Davis Campaign manager currently has the job. Glad that’s cleared up.

Guido was a little bit busy recently, (dealing with disgruntled readers in the courts), apparently this has story has already been reported elsewhere and in the foreign press. But, just in case you had not heard, young Euan Blair is enjoying himself greatly in Paris.

Daddy has fixed him up with a job at a radio station owned by the luxury brands multinational, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy. Euan has also been seen in an establishment owned by Larry Flint. The Hustler Club is off the Champs-Elysees and its where Euan has been enjoying watching the girls getting naked. Hope his girlfriend in London is cool with that…

Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire chairman of LVMH is friendly with the Blairs. Expect Tony, post-premiership, to join the board. Which will mean Cherie won’t have to hustle so much for the up-market branded freebies she so cherishes.

Over at Blairwatch they are getting pretty hot under the collar about the memo(s) where Bush contemplates bombing Al Jazeera. A blogospheric campaign is under way to sign up bloggers to breach the Official Secrets Act online in a web-wide act of defiance. Boris Johnson promises to do the same at the Speccie. Well Guido is always up for that kind of thing…

Except, well, Al Jazeera do give succour to the enemies of freedom don’t they? They are the Lord Haw Haws of the War on Terror (actually George Galloway is the Lord Haw Haw of our age). I was told some years ago by a British source that the Americans were stupid complaining about the station (Al Jazeera was banned from the press gallery of the New York Stock Exchange). The source said it was heavily infiltrated by MI6 (hence the proliferation of “ex-BBC” staff who work at Al Jazeera) and that for an Arab news station it was moderate and liberal, to the extent that it was actually a relatively moderating force for Western values in the Arab world. The anti-Israeli propaganda is low key compared to the rest of the region, with Israeli spokesman given airtime.

Over at “Don’t Bomb Us” a blog run by Al Jazeera staffers they say;

1. Al Jazeera was the first Arab station to ever broadcast interviews with Israeli officials.
2. Al Jazeera has never broadcast a beheading.
3. George W. Bush has received approximately 500 hours of airtime, while Bin Laden has received about 5 hours of airtime.

Confusing? So which button should I display?

“I deny it. I have no wish to make any further comment.” Who is Guido to contradict his denial of a quickie fling with 31 year-old radio presenter Rachel Johnston. According to the Sunday Mirror its a repeat performance rekindled from a decade ago. Well I never…

Atticus and Simon Goodley are now eliminated. Guido is polishing the trophy, voting is still open and the final three are;