The Tory Beast of Bassetlaw has clearly had a bit of a makeover, either his picture has been airbrushed or he is wearing make-up. Jonathan Sheppard has decided to take Tory Radio to a new audience with a new website, Guido has listened to a few of his podcasts and he has a knack of letting the interviewee let on more than they intended. The gritty Northern interviewer got the mincing metrosexual quote out of Frankie and got Tebbit to admit he really wants to hug a hoodie. Guido found it a bit bizarre to be cheerfully invited to personally go and live-blog the Tory party conference by the party chairman in the last podcast. Not sure that is the most tempting offer, but throw in drinks with that redhead from CCHQ and it is a deal…

As the “Tory Radio” name suggests it is completely unfair and unbalanced, but it does represent a significantly more open-minded approach in that the likes of Francis Maude are willing, without any editorial control, to take grassroots questions for podcasting. Can you really imagine Hazel Blears not going into her Blair-bot mode if she was asked unscripted questions? Because ToryRadio.com is unofficial and outside the control of CCHQ there is always a chance it could go madly off message. The jingles are a bit Smashy and Nicey…