CCHQ get immensely annoyed when stories leaked from Millbank appear on this blog. Before Christmas George Osborne told a staff briefing that they may enjoy “ten minutes of fame” but leaks (and he named Guido in particular) could blow the whole election campaign. Guido took that as a compliment.
The minor revelation on this blog that ballot papers will not have “David Cameron’s Conservatives” on them, a much mooted and trialled idea, has resulted in chief whip Patrick McLoughlin wading in. At the Ashcroft / Cameron Tory PPC get-together this weekend the Chief Whip took the stage. He displayed the story on an overhead projector during a talk about loyalty. They’ll have to try harder than that to silence Guido, several PPCs got in touch to laugh about it…
Guido always protects his sources. The proof: when Downing Street threatened a security investigation, they got nothing. Injunctions get filed in the bin, Court Orders get flouted, mole hunts end up in a hole. To quote Rick Astley, Guido is “never gonna give you up.”