The Cellar
House of Commons
London
SW1 0AA

Mr Amol Rajan,
Editor of the Independent.

Dear Mr Rajan,

I am writing to propose a syndication deal. As you can see below your diarist Andy McSmith deems my work worthy of your pages on an almost daily basis, so I am sure he will be happy to provide a reference.

This week alone Mr McSmith has seen fit to lift yesterday’s lead in your newspaper’s excellent diary revealing that Harriet Harman and Jack Dromey had been put in an awkward spot by their son working for Paddy Power, they of the famous Oscar Pistorius bet. An amusing tale, which appeared on the pages of my blog the previous day.

Today, Mr McSmith has another fine story about a “crafty coalition“ organised by local LibDems so they can keep child rape charge councillor Ryan Hope in the tent. Worrying developments indeed, and a niche story first reported on my blog last Friday.

Mr McSmith was also tickled by a Twitter bitch fight between Sally Bercow and fellow magpie Andrew Pierce, which he duly wrote up in his diary last week. Hardly an exclusive of course, though Mr McSmith’s readers were well behind the curve given the very same words had already appeared on my website.

It is some years since McSmith took a picture of me from the blog reposing in bed with Toby Young and it was with some difficulty that we successfully extracted payment in the end.

I propose that since Mr McSmith appears to lift my copy without payment or attribution, perhaps we could come to an arrangement by which you cut out the middle man and get your diary stories straight from the source? I know that money is tight at the Indy and I would not want you to waste your budget employing a diarist who simply lifts stories from elsewhere.

Yours,

Guido Fawkes Esq.

UPDATE:

@MediaGuido Dear Sir, many thanks for this kind and generous offer, which I shall consider presently. Your most humble servant, Amol

— Amol Rajan (@amolrajan) March 5, 2014