Guido’s revelation that the Hartlepool by-election candidate, Dr. Paul Williams, had backed cuts to local hospital services in a 2013 in a report which he co-authored, recommending critical care be removed from Hartlepool Hospital has had an impact. Labour are now attempting damage control – though not by actually denying it. In an open letter to Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling, Angela Rayner has instead attacked the credibility of Hartlepool TV, a site that lifted and repackaged our initial scoop, by claiming it’s run by “US-based conspiracy theorists“. Not the best defence…

A few problems for Angela here: firstly, Hartlepool TV didn’t break the story, Guido did. Whatever tinfoil hat nonsense comes out of Hartlepool TV is irrelevant. The substance of the story is true.

Back in 2019, not only did Labour share content from Hartlepool TV on their social media, Labour’s then-MP candidate Mike Hill often appeared in interviews on the same channel. Secondly, Labour didn’t seem to have much of a problem with Hartlepool TV until Angela wrote her letter. They were happy with Hartlepool TV when it gave them an uncritical platform…