Tomorrow it will be two weeks since Guido named Rosie Winterton as Prescott’s long-term mistress. She had previously threatened to sue anyone who dared suggest she was Prescott’s mistress – a fact that is an open secret in Westminster. Guido calculated that the threat was a bluff.

Mrs Fawkes, a cautious lawyer, was not amused by the media maelstrom that consequently enveloped us whilst on a family holiday in France, something which was not in Guido’s calculations and for which he apologises to her.

The PMOS, Prescott’s office, Prescott’s biographer, Prescott himself, assorted dead-tree press pundits, broadcasting grande dames like Paxman and Robinson as well as other media tarts chorused altogether in pantomime horror “unsubstantiated rumour”.

Old media idiots harrumph “these bloggers think they can get away with libel”. Speaking for myself, and having had many conversations with the likes of Iain Dale and others about these issues, Guido can assure you, we don’t think that at all. We are very much more exposed to being sued. Unlike a Big Media journalist we have no mega-corporations behind us to pick up the bill.*

Prezza himself told John Humphrys during his infamous lengthy Today interview:

I told you, listen, you’re talking about a lot of people here who have in fact denied these stories. Names have been mentioned, some of them are in the process of perhaps suing about it – I’m not going to get involved in that – I’ve made my statement about making a mistake and I’ve told that I’m leaving it at that. But I notice the guy that’s making these allegations says there’s no evidence for it, so why are you justified to keep on trying to push this?

“The Guy that is making these allegations” has never said there is no evidence for it. When Paxman, Robinson et al said they could not report unsubstantiated allegations, they meant, more accurately, allegations they themselves could not substantiate. Ironically neither Paxman or Robinson can substantiate the “no evidence allegation” having still not even bothered to ask Guido – despite there being established lines of communication.

Off-the-record briefings from Prezza’s spinmeister were to the effect; “We would sue, but we don’t want to give them the publicity” – err, Guido’s blog is already the number one political website in the country and has hundreds of thousands of readers every month. They followed this up with the most pathetic Victoria Beckham defence “We are not going to dignify these allegations with any publicity”. Dignity? Prescott?

So where is Guido’s writ from the “Right Honourable” Rosie?

*Guido has a mini-corporation behind him, Global & General Nominees LLC of Nevis. If you want to sue the publishers go ahead, the office for service is properly registered in accordance with the law. The laws of the island require that the plaintiff first deposits US$25,000 with the court before commencing action. Guido will defend himself vigorously.

“Michael Abraham Levy, I am arresting you under the terms of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 and the Political Parties, Election and Referendum Act 2000.”

Yesterday Putin relished taking the mick out of Blair (the mick of course being Lord Michael Levy). Asked what his message would be to Blair in view of implicit criticism by the British ambassador to Moscow of Putin’s governance, the authoritarian Russian leader started sly: “We carefully hear out all our partners,” he said. “We take into consideration their views on such issues but we take our decisions ourselves.” Putin then twisted the knife with a smile. “There are also other questions… Questions, let’s say, about the fight against corruption. We’d be interested in hearing your experience, including how it applies to Lord Levy.”

The Scotsman reports that there is panic in Downing Street as Levy puts Blair squarely in the frame. Guido has been merrily emailing the cut out ‘n play Sleazy Sweepstakes gamesheet to SpAds and civil servants in a tactic borrowed from U.S. Army’s Central Command in the run up to the liberation of Iraq.

Psy-Ops units waged online warfare by sending emails and text messages to Iraqi senior officers telling them to surrender in advance of the U.S. Army’s Rolling Thunder operation. The effect of these messages on morale was telling, it showed the Republican guard that the enemy knew them individually, knew where to get them and how. The Republican Guard consequently put up no defence when the U.S. Army arrived. In advance of Yates of the Yard’s detectives’ Operation Ribble, Guido has borrowed some of those psy-ops tactics, after all, as concerned citizens we must each do our little bit in the War on Sleaze.

Email Guido for a gamesheet to print out, then email it onwards as appropriate or just cut out and play Sleazy Sweepstakes in your office. (Peerages not included.)

Guido thinks it significant that Hague and Maude were careful to brief Tim Montgomerie in an effort to keep him on side over the EPP climb down. He holds no position in the party, yet his influence over the membership and the reach of his website is phenomenal. Guido asked online monitoring consultants Hitwise to compare the relative readership numbers for ConservativeHome.com and the official Conservatives.com websites. It would seem that Tim’s prophecy has come true. No wonder CCHQ are rushing to hire online experts.
As can be seen from the above data on market share, as of the beginning of this month the unofficial ConservativeHome is more popular than the official party website. Surprisingly the LabourHome website, after only three weeks of operation, is gaining on the official party website as well, registering a readership about a third the size of the offical site. What does this mean? It means party members want honesty and openess, something that they don’t trust the official channels to provide. Guido is almost embarrassed to point out that his readership is greater than the official Labour and Conservative party websites combined.

See also Blogalypse Now.