“Rothermere Drops Boris” Twitter Conspiracy Unravels

Over the weekend Twitter was trending with news that Boris was yet again doomed because Jonathan Harmsworth (Lord Rothermere) had turned against him. Guido has tracked down the sources of this conspiracy theory…

On Saturday night Tim Walker tweeted about an article he had written for the New European – where Alastair Campbell is Editor-at-Large – which claimed:

It’s over now for Johnson. The Mail papers were his last defenders. They’ve given up on him now, too. The dynamic here was Rothermere and his concern for his papers and Dacre and his concern for his peerage. Rothermere has had enough of that. … Trust me, this change of direction is seismic.

Likewise, Adam Bienkov, political editor of the conspiracy website Byline Times, joined in by opining on Sunday:

The Mail turning on Boris Johnson means the last prop keeping him in power is starting to fall. If it weren’t for his few remaining press supporters, Johnson would have long ago been forced out of Downing Street.

Tim Walker had some kind of breakdown over Brexit, and Adam Bienkov has written for a decade about the coming collapse of Boris. Their followers lapped it up and it was trending on Twitter with much rejoicing and admiration for the new-found wisdom of Lord Rothermere. Monday came, and this morning’s Mail leader will have unravelled all their hopes:

A Daily Mail editorial, fulsome with praise and advice for Boris that suggests perhaps the paper hasn’t turned against him. As it “asserts this paper unequivocally believes Boris Johnson is the right man to lead the party and the country”. Walker and Bienkov have yet to explain how their seismic weekend scoop has unravelled on Monday… 

mdi-timer 4 July 2022 @ 11:30 4 Jul 2022 @ 11:30 mdi-twitter mdi-facebook mdi-whatsapp mdi-telegram mdi-linkedin mdi-email mdi-comment View Comments
10 People Who’ve Been Driven Mad By Brexit

For the past few months it has become clear that certain members of the politico-media bubble have been undergoing a Brexit induced breakdown. The Remainiac bug is spreading – even some Remainers who were previously worth listening to have started to sound like tin-foil hatted conspiracy theorists. It falls upon Guido to stage a public intervention for their own good. Our list does not merely include ultra-Remainers who might be irritating but have kept their marbles. These are the 10 people who have been truly driven off the deep end by Brexit…

  • AC Grayling – Where else to begin? Grayling has become Twitter’s nutty professor, every day pumping out increasingly unhinged anti-Brexit diatribes. Some highlights include labelling Brexiteers “vermin“, seeking a general strike to oppose Brexit, claiming “90% of informed opinion” is against Brexit, alleging other ultra-Remainers were being “silenced” by forces of the state, and arguing that the Tory government is “alt-right”. Grayling is alt-reality.
  • Andrew Adonis – Every day he tweets about “stopping” or “halting” Brexit, which he calls “self-mutilation”. Some of his more vitriolic attacks are reserved for fellow Remainers who he reckons have sold out, he claims for example that Brexit is being driven by a “David Davis-Keir Starmer axis”. Peak Adonis was when he wrote to Lord Hall demanding the BBC sack Andrew Neil. Remarkably he still has a government job…
  • Ben Bradshaw – Bradshaw has taken to tweeting out Louise Mensch blog posts citing “multiple sources with links to UK intelligence” who apparently say the referendum should be voided due to Russian intervention. Yesterday he tweeted that it was time for the Tories “to come clean about extent of Kremlin’s reach into heart of Government”. Friends don’t let friends retweet Louise Mensch. 
  • Carole Cadwalladr – Cadwalladr appears to genuinely believe Brexit was a Russian plot, she has claimed the Leave campaign used psy-ops to hoodwink voters and doesn’t appear to realise she is being elaborately trolled by Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore who have christened her “Carole Codswallop”. Last night she suggested lifelong Eurosceptic Michael Gove only backed Vote Leave on the orders of the Legatum Institute, who she reckons are agents of Putin. It’s so ridiculous even Newsnight have taken the piss. The Observer’s continued indulging of her conspiracy theories seems almost exploitative. 
  • Tim Walker – The waspish former diary columnist delights in dishing out snark, but thin-skinned Tim can’t take it when his conspiratorial babble is called out. The former Telegraph man turned freelancer and New European contributor reckons “Putin will continue to govern this country through stupid, weak, vain, greedy politicians so long as we, the people, are prepared to sit back and let him”. Cuckoo. 
  • Jolyon Maugham – Twitter’s most attention-seeking QC once said he considers it an honour that he is known as “the biggest c**t at the English bar”. Brexit has turned him mad as well as bad. Just read how nasty Maugham was to the genial Danny Finkelstein about Article 50. And who can forget the time he decided to set up a new political party to fight Brexit. Always a telltale sign of a Brexdown. 
  • Jeremy Cliffe – Talking of which, the Economist’s Berlin correspondent started The Radicals, seriously pledging to reverse Brexit, join the Euro, join the EU army and make Ken Clarke the next European Commission president. He quit the party after 12 hours following an all-staff internal email bollocking from his bosses. The Economist’s embarrassment was the happiest the FT newsroom has been all year. 
  • Liam Byrne – Byrne is partly responsible for setting off the Russia conspiracy theorists (and the Mail on Sunday), demanding a “US-style judge-led inquiry” in response to a Louise Mensch blog. He’s tweeted out crank articles quoting intelligence “sources” saying the referendum will need to be re-run. He’s in danger of going the full Bradshaw. And Liam, we really need to talk about the beard. 
  • Tom Brake – There has always been something of the night about Tom Brake, and the mood of parliament’s most humourless MP has not been helped by Brexit. When he’s not complaining to Bercow about Guido, Brake is making a fool of himself about Legatum. LibDem press officers play a game where they compete to put the most OTT lines into his press releases, knowing Brake will never tell them to tone it down. 
  • Alastair Campbell – Okay so he always was a few billion short of a trade deal, but Bad Al is really not taking things well at the moment. He calls Leavers “Brextremists”, compared them to jihadists and even launched into a xenophobic rant against Gisela Stuart. He’s not gone in for the Putin stuff to be fair. Though that’s possibly more to do with his own Russia Today appearances. 

Guido wishes them well and looks forward to their post-Brexit recovery in April 2019…

mdi-timer 27 November 2017 @ 12:41 27 Nov 2017 @ 12:41 mdi-twitter mdi-facebook mdi-whatsapp mdi-telegram mdi-linkedin mdi-email mdi-comment View Comments
Michael Gove v Tim Walker

A catty encounter between Michael Gove (who’s clearly enjoying his new Twitter account) and diary journalist turned Remoaner Tim Walker:

You know you’ve lost when you pull the Murdoch card.

mdi-timer 14 October 2016 @ 14:59 14 Oct 2016 @ 14:59 mdi-twitter mdi-facebook mdi-whatsapp mdi-telegram mdi-linkedin mdi-email mdi-comment View Comments
Tim Walker Walks from Mail on Sunday

walker

Tim Walker has resigned from the Mail on Sunday. Some less kind than Guido would say he has jumped before he was pushed. Tim ran the Girl About Town diary when Charlotte Griffiths was away last week and they are being sued for two stories. Occupational hazard…

Expensive one could be Nancy Dell’olio allegedly having a nose job, which turned out to be complete bollocks. Nancy Dell’Olio has instructed Collyer Bristow, solicitors over the headline “Nancy knows a man who can make your nose thinner for £500”. They say that Dell’Olio has not had treatment from Dr de Souza, nor does she know this doctor.

Girl About Town is in a bit of trouble at the moment. With Walker out, Deborah Sherwood (the deputy editor) gone, and Hanna Flint (the diary reporter) having just left. Charlotte Griffiths is still there, and there are two new diarists on board. Apply by Twitter…

UPDATE: Mail on Sunday management get in touch to insist everything is hunky dory and Tim will be working from home on a freelance basis.

mdi-timer 19 February 2016 @ 16:26 19 Feb 2016 @ 16:26 mdi-twitter mdi-facebook mdi-whatsapp mdi-telegram mdi-linkedin mdi-email mdi-comment View Comments
Tim Walker to the Mail on Sunday

A little birdie tells Guido that pugnacious diarist Tim Walker, formerly editor of the Telegraph’s retired Mandrake column and most recently found at the Mirror, is off to the Mail on Sunday. Walker’s inside track on the world of hard-partying aristos is rivalled only by the daily’s Sebastian Shakespeare, and is probably better suited at the MoS than a redtop. Guido hopes this means Tim’s Twitter claws will be back out and we can look forward to some more outstandingly catty bitch fights with the Times Diary…

mdi-timer 22 September 2015 @ 10:41 22 Sep 2015 @ 10:41 mdi-twitter mdi-facebook mdi-whatsapp mdi-telegram mdi-linkedin mdi-email mdi-comment View Comments