Gordon has slipped further into madness. He has actually had the audacity to attempt to emulate Churchill. This pile of desperate drivel just arrived into Guido’s inbox. 

Was this written by an intern?

Guido,

If there’s one thing that our recent by-election successes and this week’s coverage about the £34 billion credibility gap in the Tories’ spending plans shows us, it’s that when we fight, we win.

I know that despite the icy conditions, so many of you are preparing to go out campaigning this weekend. That, for me, says it all about the spirit of our Labour Party – we never give in, we never give up, we fight for progress house by house, street by street, day by day.

If you want to get involved in the greatest fighting force for fairness our country has ever known, click here.

And I hope you will also take the time to check in on elderly neighbours and others in your community, as so many of you have been already, to ensure people stay safe and stay warm during the cold weather.

Earlier today the cabinet met to discuss how we intend to focus laser-like on two fronts: running the country and building the recovery. We are united in serving Britain and working as a team to lead our movement into a big choice election – taking the fight to the Tories and standing up for all the people of Britain.

Labour is on your side – wherever you’ve come from in life and wherever you want to get to in life. So let’s get the message out this weekend; we’re backing Britain’s aspirations, and we’re fighting to win.

Yours,

Gordon Brown

P.S: If you can’t make it out to campaign this weekend you can still make a huge difference to our fight by donating just £10 today – every single penny you give will go towards our campaigning in the coming months.

Seems Gordon needs to get out of the bunker. Whoever around the Prime Mentalist approved this is as deluded as he is…

This weeks Guy News is a blockbuster, it is going out to Guidogram subscribers this afternoon as soon as Emily Nomates gets back from the pub. It is free to subscribe – thousands have already and that is why more people watch Guy News than WebCameron…

Don’t miss Hoon, Hewitt, Hilton, Harman and another bash at Nick Robinson…

Steve Hilton said…

“You w**ker!”

Guido is frankly surprised with Mehdi Hasan’s latest article “In Defence of Ed Balls“.  Not that the ‘senior political editor’ of the New Statesman is defending the indefensible, it is his admission that “I don’t know him. Never met him.”

How do you get to be a ‘senior political editor’ of a supposedly serious political journal without ever having met Ed Balls?  Staggering.

You know things are never going to go well when Bad Al Campbell gives you a n endorsement.  It seems Iris Robinson was in fact just trying to cover her back with her claims of depression using tactics straight out of the Campbell media manipulation playbook.   Bad Al wrote a long piece on his blog before Christmas about brave Iris:

If my own experience is anything to go she will feel better for being open, and she will perhaps be surprised by the warmth of people towards her admission. There are so many people out there with mental health problems, yet so few who speak openly about them. I hope that once the dustsettles she will get involved in the Time to Change campaign to break down the stigma and taboo surrounding mental illness, which leads directly to discrimination. I was pleased that her statement suggested she would have more to say on the subject of her illness at a later date. A word too on her husband. Depression is a horrible illness for the sufferer. But it can be a huge strain too on the family of the depressive, and it cannot have been easy for him to cope with his wife’s illness in addition to everything else his various political roles require.

What is it with him and people killing, or at least trying to, kill themselves?

As so often happens, who broke the story first is fiercely contested.  Guido doesn’t have a dog in this fight, but for the record, since the Staggers is trying to cite Guido as evidence to back up its claim that it broke the news, here is the timeline:

• Unnoticed by Guido when it happened was Andy Sparrow’s PMQs live-blog, which had this at 11:57:
  

  11.57 am: Hot news: We’ve just heard that Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt are going to make some kind of statement about Brown’s leadership after PMQs. That’s all I know at the moment.

• The first Guido knew was when someone shouted out across the newsroom after Andy Sparrow’s Tweet came up on the Guy News Tweetdeck screen, that was time-stamped at 12:01.
• The Guardian’s website also had a teaser headline at 12:15.
• The New Statesman at 12:17 publishes what it calls an “Exclusive“ that “A letter is being circulated among Labour MPs this afternoon calling for a secret ballot on Gordon Brown’s leadership. According to one MP who would like Brown to leave office, the letter is being co-ordinated by a number of rebels, including the former cabinet ministers Charles Clarke, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon.”

So there you have it. The Guardian was first, though in the augmented reality of the Staggers “It was the NS wot got it“.  In reality, you snooze, you lose, it ain’t news.

Sparrow told Guido that “it would be nice to take the credit myself, but actually Patrick Wintour obtained the information.” Incidentally, Guido understands that ITN’s Channel 4 News has changed policy on breaking news.  Whereas it restricted scoops to the 7 p.m. broadcast they now put it up as soon as they can on the website and tweet the link.  A cultural change for a mainstream media source.  Steve Hilton getting nicked was tweeted last night by Cathy Newman in advance of telly viewers being told.

It almost goes without saying that Guido tries to be first.  If not first, fast.  When inevitably occasionally wrong, not for long.  We no longer have news cycles, we have news streams…