Top Westminster agencies MessageSpace and 5654 & Co have conducted research into SW1’s media habits. It makes interesting reading for the growing fan base of one site in particular…
A whopping 78% of MPs access digital news multiple times a day – compared to 35% for TV and 34% for radio. A truly dismal 16% access print news multiple times, it’s game over for legacy titles and the lobby’s ‘paper politics ’…
Only 28% of MPs say they read newspapers daily. The shift is of course particularly stark for newer intake MPs, of which only 17% engage with print daily from the 2024 intake. Yesterday’s news tomorrow…
Despite Labour’s hand wringing over Musk’s X the platform still has the highest volume of MPs at 95%, one point ahead of Facebook and leagues ahead of Bluesky (anyone seen Jon Sopel?) The report also notes:
“Conservative & Reform MPs show overwhelming preference for Guido Fawkes, with the website being more frequently visited than the Mail, Financial Times or Telegraph.”
Under new management and led by media brain Ross Kempsell – with news hounds Max Young and Ellie Wheatley spearheading reporting – this website beats digital right-of-centre competitors The Spectator and ConHome among MPs of all parties – – but on a fraction of the budget and staff. Guido is once again the primary destination for Westminster news breaking, both inside and outside the bubble. You are either in front of Guido, or you are behind…
Continue reading “Guido Fawkes Officially Most Popular News Source on Right of British Politics”
The first week of August was dominated by the response to the horrifying Southport stabbings. Grisly scenes in northern towns like Hartlepool saw the commentariat immediately declare a dangerous far-right surge was threatening the country. Not-a-real-DJ James O’Brien, in his infinite genius, blamed Nigel Farage again. “Did I call them the Farage Riots? I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I should have called them the ‘Farige Riots’. I apologise.”
Rookie Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that the far-right threat was very real, and eventually cancelled his holiday to neutralise this threat by inventing what he called a ‘standing army’ of public order police. A few idiotic Facebook trolls were jailed. As was Labour councillor Ricky Jones, who was arrested on suspicion of encouraging murder for declaring “we need to cut all [the] throats” of the “fascists” on Britain’s streets…
The media hysteria over the looming unrest soon wilted, however, when the armageddon of mass protests supposedly due to sweep Britain came to… absolutely nothing. The camera crews deployed across the country to capture the violence were left twiddling their thumbs while the elusive far-right super-army stayed at home. As Sky News’s crime reporter Martin Brunt put it, “the counter protests have got no protests to counter”…
Nonetheless, questions over two-tier policing dogged the government and the Metropolitan Police. Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley responded to these questions by whacking a reporter’s microphone on the ground, while Number 10 denied there was a problem. Nigel Farage and Richard Tice disagreed…
The shellshocked Tories distracted themselves from their general election walloping by having another election. This time, it was to decide whoever was brave (or foolish enough) to lead what was left of the party. Guido’s definitive spreadsheet returned, once again, to monitor the progress for what would be a summer-long slog…
Honourable mentions:
- Backlash Over Ed Balls Giving Wife Yvette Cooper Easy Interview
- Lineker: ‘Musk Has Stopped My Banter’
- Starmer Denied Entry to Clarkson’s Pub
Headline of the Month:
Change, whatever that meant, had finally come to Britain. The Tories suffered their worst general election battering in modern history, with Labour sailing to a 174 seat majority that was just shy of Tony Blair’s 178-seat whopper in 1997. A fact that annoys Morgan McSweeney to this day…
One after the other, Tory big beasts fell: Jacob Rees-Mogg, Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps, Gillian Keegan, Alex Chalk, Simon Hart, Johnny Mercer, Lucy Frazer, and Mark Harper all lost their seats. The real Portillo moment came on the morning of the 5th July, when Liz Truss lost by just over 600 votes to Labour candidate Terry Jermy. The Tories were down to a rump of 121 MPs…
Reform UK won five MPs, with Nigel Farage entering Parliament for the first time. Flanked by Richard Tice, Lee Anderson, Rupert Lowe and James McMurdoch, Farage arrived in Westminster warning “the fox is in the henhouse“. This was just the start…
The new Prime Minister sauntered into Downing Street and began appointing his Cabinet. This normally takes a day or two. For Sir Keir, the process stretched on and on, as every appointment needed Sue Gray’s blessing, who was probably too busy moving Morgan’s desk further away from the PM’s to notice any problems. Eventually the first Labour government in 14 years was formed – and Emily Thornberry had to watch it all unfold from the backbenches. Richard Hermer, who had previously represented Gerry Adams, became Attorney General instead. Not that Thornberry cared…
Just weeks after entering government, Rachel Reeves discovered a shocking, totally unforeseen “black hole” in the public finances to the tune of £22 billion. Having promised during the election campaign that she wouldn’t pull a trick like this, it turned out the scale of the problem was so, so much worse than she could possibly have imagined, and drastic action was necessary. The winter fuel allowance was scrapped for millions of pensioners, transport projects were binned… and public sector workers were given inflation-busting pay rises to the delight of the unions. Reeves then promised Things Will Only Get Worse in the autumn Budget…
Over in the US, Trump got shot, Biden was forced out of the race after falling asleep during a debate, and Kamala Harris became the nominee without a single Democrat voting for her. What was supposed to be a dull rematch of the 2020 race was turning into one of the most dramatic election campaigns in modern US history. Sky News won the Guido award for ‘worst take’ after the Trump shooting: “Nothing justifies an assassination bid – but did Trump play part in changing the rules of engagement?”…
Honourable mentions:
Guido Seat Predictions Beat Every Single Final MRP
Tugendhat Campaign Executes Hasty Motto Change
Khan Flies off the Handle When Asked About Two-Child Benefit Cap
Headline of the Month
In June, Nigel Farage changed his mind. Having first insisted six weeks simply wasn’t enough time to campaign for a seat, on 3rd June Farage returned to the leadership of Reform UK and announced he would stand in the Clacton-on-sea constituency at the general election. He also confirmed he was in it for the long haul, and this was the beginning of a five year project to replace the Tories entirely as the centre right offering in UK politics. Even a milkshake drenching wasn’t going to put him off. “Guess who’s back. Back again…”
Farage’s return was like lighting a firework in a library. Until then, the opening days of the election campaign were dull and predictable. Sunak and Starmer bored the audience to tears in their ITV debate, with no one’s mind changed on either side and no one any clearer on what Labour actually wanted to do with the power they were inevitably about to inherit. Starmer’s Ming vase remained intact, perhaps with one or two imperceptible hairline fractures…
6th June marked 80 years since the D-Day landings, with world leaders uniting in Normandy to commemorate the dead and thank the remaining survivors. Eyebrows were raised, however, when David Cameron appeared in the group photo alongside Biden, Macron and Scholz rather than the incumbent Prime Minister. At least Dave got to pretend it was 2015 again…
Rishi had left early. Leading a campaign seemingly immune to good decisions, the Prime Minister was back in the UK for an interview with ITV’s Paul Brand. The fallout was as bad as anyone with half a political brain would expect. As if forgetting an umbrella wasn’t enough…
Meanwhile in London, salacious gossip about a senior Labour figure’s private life had the attention of every newsroom on Fleet Street. It would go largely unreported, though a trickle of innuendo made into the gossip columns. The hacks couldn’t – or wouldn’t – stand it up…
Honourable mentions:
- Starmer’s Father Admitted He Was the Owner of Toolmaking Factory
- Channel 4 Reform Report Leaves Out Campaigner Is Also Actor
- All the Bonkers Policies in the LibDem Manifesto
Headline of the Month
May began with an inevitable local election bloodbath for the Tories, losing a whopping 515 seats in their worst performance in over twenty years. Sadiq Khan also walked to his third term on the same night, though not without a flurry of SW1 excitement that Susan Hall was about to stage a Rocky-style comeback at the eleventh hour. This, of course, turned out to be a mirage: Khan won 43.8% to Hall’s 32.7%. The Tories had been utterly thumped. Even Andy Street, the popular Mayor of the West Midlands, conceded defeat. Surely this all but guaranteed a winter election now? Surely…
While the Conservatives licked their wounds and quietly assured themselves they had at least six months to avoid catastrophe, up in Scotland John Swinney was elected (virtually) unopposed as First Minister. Humza Yousaf retired to the backbenches to spend more time tweeting about things which have nothing to do with Scotland. Meanwhile in Wales, Vaughn Gething had obviously watched the Scottish government’s near-implosion with envy and decided he wanted a taste of the action himself. He abruptly fired his Minister for Social Engagement, Hannah Blythyn, after accusing her of leaking WhatsApp messages which appeared to show he’d misled the Covid inquiry. Still, early days. Maybe he’d be able to turn things around…
Back in Westminster, MPs and hacks were busying themselves with the important work of booking their summer getaways. The Prime Minister himself had given his clearest indication yet that it was safe to do so: “book your holiday”, he declared on Loose Women. A week later, drenched head to toe, he announced the general election would be held on 4th July.
The starting gun had been fired. As Labour mobilised its campaign machine for the six-week battle ahead, the Tories scrambled to even select a candidate for every constituency. It was as though CCHQ were as blindsided by the election as the rest of us.
The real question, however, was what would Nigel Farage do? At first, the answer was music to the Tories’ ears. On 23rd May, he announced he wasn’t going to stand – six weeks was “not long enough“, and the upcoming US presidential election had his attention. Piers Morgan had plenty of short-lived fun with that on their shared return to the Question Time panel. Rishi breathed a sigh of relief and went for a ride on his Peloton…
Away from the noise of the campaign, Guido revealed Angela Rayner’s son, Ryan Batty, had a lucrative side hustle in the adult film industry. For just £5.50 a month, subscribers were treated to the fully monty – until the OnlyFans account mysteriously vanished after Guido’s exposé. Rayner insisted she was “fighting [the] election for my kids… Cultural experiences and places where people can have fun I think are really important.” Was this the kind of ‘cultural experience’ she had in mind?
Honourable mentions:
- Rayner Pleads With Muslim Voters as Pressure From Galloway Grows
- Rachel Reeves Told Defector Elphicke to “F*ck Off”
- Farage Hits Out at BBC for Biased Commentary
Headline of the Month:
Pickaxe-Wielding Labour Councillor Celebrates Election With Drug Dealers
The heat remained on Angela Rayner, as weeks of Guido’s relentless coverage of her murky living situation finally forced the mainstream press to take notice. Labour scrambled, pulling 21 Facebook ads featuring the then Shadow Deputy Leader, while Greater Manchester Police announced they were investigating her for numerous allegations including tax and electoral issues. The story continued to rumble…
Labour stubbornly refused to release documents that could clarify which house Rayner was living in, though even her loyal colleagues found it tricky to defend her sticky situation: Cooper struggled to defend her tax hypocrisy, Starmer couldn’t support Rayner 100% and Lammy’s strongest argument was that it was “different” because Labour wasn’t in government yet. Rayner then began briefing that no capital gains tax was owed because she had “renovated” her kitchen. Guido tracked down pictures of the so-called renovation — a modest job that hardly looked expensive enough to erase a capital gains bill. The numbers didn’t add up…
It was trouble in paradise north of the border as Humza Yousaf scrapped his governing deal with the Scottish Greens. The move came after the SNP ditched its own climate target to cut emissions by 75% by 2030—so much for saving the planet. The Scottish Tories and Labour seized the moment, tabling a no-confidence vote. Humza clung on, declaring he wouldn’t resign. Spoiler: he resigned. Just three days later, Yousaf threw in the towel, stepping down as First Minister after a staggering 397 days in office. Unsurprisingly, Time Magazine didn’t come calling on Humza again for its next cover on “extraordinary leaders”…
The Tories couldn’t stay out of drama either. Tory MP William Wragg confessed he’d fallen victim to a honeytrap scammer on Grindr and had leaked personal phone numbers of several MPs. Those numbers, naturally, ended up being used in a phishing scandal. Another Tory MP Mark Menzies resigned following accusations that he used party money to pay off “bad people” in a hostage situation. Colleagues weren’t exactly sympathetic for the either of the now former MPs. Politics is a dirty game…
Over in Brussels, Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman turned up for the National Conservatism Conference. The Socialist mayor wasn’t having it, ordering police to swoop in and shut it down “to guarantee public safety,” claiming the “far right is not welcome.” The police dutifully obliged, shutting the event down early. Proving Nigel’s point about free speech…
Honourable Mentions:
- Wales’ New First Minister Flies Off For Holiday
- Sunak Completely Kills Off Gay Conversion Therapy Ban
- Government Considering Ban on Mobile Phone Sales to Under 16-Year-Olds
Headline of the Month: Beeb Slammed for Spaffing £3.2 Million on Left Biased BBC Verify
Red Wall Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash told GB News that Starmer should resign:
“I’m completely fed up about it, and I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think that, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when.”
