Angela Rayner’s dubious housing situation from 2009 to 2015 was the talk of March. After it was revealed she sold her former council house – bought through the Right to Buy scheme – for a £48,500 profit, the question of whether she should’ve paid capital gains tax on it didn’t escape Guido’s eye. Rayner had registered her Vicarage Road home in Stockport as her main residence, yet her children were listed at her husband’s property just a mile away on Lowndes Lane. Her neighbour didn’t hold back, calling her a “f*cking liar” and claimed she was actually living at Lowndes Lane…
Guido also pointed out she would have breached electoral law by voting in multiple elections if she had been living with her husband, but still remained on the electoral roll at Vicarage Road. After Guido counted 43 days of dodging the media, Rayner finally faced the press, tearfully stonewalling and asking for “privacy” for her family. Meanwhile, any tax advice she received remains under wraps – despite her previous calls for Tory candidates to publish their tax returns. Perhaps that’s what finally pushed Owen Jones (40) to leave Labour that month…
It was further trouble in Talk Towers after Guido revealed that TalkTV is shifted off broadcast linear TV, becoming an online live streamer only instead now simply called Talk. Mass layoffs took place afterwards with two-thirds of the staff let go. They’re all YouTubers now…
Meanwhile the ever-rising GB News continued to be targeted by Ofcom after it ruled five GB News programmes hosted by Tory MPs broke impartiality rules. GB as usual didn’t shy away from slamming the “chilling” judgements while Farage blasted their “dirty tricks” to rule whether he was a ‘politician’ or not. Guido also revealed that economics editor Liam Halligan had quit GB News. He’s still proving hard to replace…
It was a tough month for the BBC, with “Disinformation Correspondent” Marianna Spring’s top scoop that “Trump supporters have been creating and sharing AI-generated fake images of black voters to encourage African Americans to vote Republican“ actually were just photos coming from an X parody account. The broadcaster also had to apologise for describing Reform as “far-right”…
Reform’s momentum rolled on, with Lee Anderson officially defecting to Reform to become their first MP, as did Tory Mayoral candidate for Greater Manchester, Dan Barker. Reform began to close the gap with the Tories in the polls, narrowing the difference to just four points that month. A trend that has only grown stronger since…
Honourable Mentions:
Headline of Month: Dan Wootton Wins Substantial Damages from Daily Mirror
February was a turbulent month for Labour, as internal divisions over the Israel-Hamas war came to a head. It kicked off with Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali, who suggested Israel had “allowed” the Hamas attack. Labour stood by him for a time, though when a recording surfaced in which Ali blamed the “Jewish media” for criticising pro-Gaza MP Andy McDonald, Labour belatedly withdrew their support. Though not in time to remove his name from the ballot…
Guido soon got hold of the recording, revealing that Labour PPC Graham Jones had repeatedly referred to “f**king Israel” and even ranted to Azhar Ali that Britons who volunteer to fight for the Israeli Defence Forces “should be locked up”. After the story quickly gained traction, Labour swiftly suspended the candidate…
In Parliament, tensions ran high after over 60 MPs signed a letter of no confidence in Speaker Lindsay Hoyle following his decision – against his own aides – to allow a vote on a Labour amendment to an SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Penny Mordaunt said Hoyle was a victim of being bullied by the “fickle” and “ruthless” Starmer. He managed to survive that storm…
As usual, Labour’s finances were in freefall. They continued to flounder on their own green energy £28 billion annual spending plan – a black hole Guido had been highlighting for a while. After weeks of waffle and so-called “clarity” on Labour’s position, they finally ditched the £28 billion figure, all while maintaining allegiance to the “Green Prosperity Plan”. The now-familiar excuse that it was the “Tories’ fault” for the U-turn didn’t exactly go down well with Labour’s supporters…
TalkTV wasn’t spared the spotlight either, with Piers Morgan unceremoniously sacked two years into his three-year deal with Rupert Murdoch. Despite “Uncensored’s” prime-time slot, endless hype from The Sun and The Times, and a large promotional budget, Morgan failed to deliver the audience. Despite Morgan’s face-saving spin that it was his decision, Guido heard it was Rupert himself, from New York, who pulled the plug. Morgan’s pivot to YouTube seemed like a soft landing, though as Guido noted at the time, YouTube ad rates are just pennies per view. And with Morgan averaging around 500,000 views a show, it’s not exactly putting bread on the table…
Meanwhile it was trouble in Tory towers. Lee Anderson was suspended after refusing to apologise for claiming “Islamists” had “got control” of Sadiq Khan, Guido revealed yet another Tory faction, the Popular Conservatives, had been created and then came a double by-election loss to Labour that also saw Reform surging in the polls. A sign of things to come later in the year…
Honourable Mentions:
Headline of the Month: Labour PPC Graham Jones Recorded Ranting “F**king Israel” Wants British Jews Fighting for Israel “Locked Up”
The political year kicked off with the Post Office scandal reignited by ITV’s explosive series, putting LibDem leader Ed Davey under the spotlight for his previous role as Post Office Minister. Furious ex-postmistresses called for his resignation, while the LibDems scrambled to cast Davey as the victim and blasted the Tories for “personal attacks.” Davey vanished from the Commons’ first week back, prompting jeers of “Where is he?!” and, when finally cornered, refused to apologise for the scandal over ten times. Guido didn’t miss the opportunity to point out what Starmer did and didn’t do when he was DPP at the CPS when the scandal was first revealed…
It was unhappy families in the Tory party as the month was dominated by the wranglings over Rishi’s Safety of Rwanda Bill, as Tory rebels on the right piled in with amendments to close “loopholes” that might see it bogged down in the courts. Over 30 MPs joined the push, including Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman, and Sir Iain Duncan Smith. The fallout saw Lee Anderson (back when he was a Tory) and Brendan Clarke-Smith resigned as Deputy Party Chairmen rather than toe the line. For a while, it looked like the rebellion could derail Rishi’s flagship legislation though in the end, the rebels blinked, rallied behind the government, and allowed the Bill to pass its third reading. A jubilant Rishi promised flights would be wheels-up by Spring. Co-conspirators know how that one crash-landed…
The Tories, in their infinite wisdom, thought it was a clever idea to roll out a feature that let users craft their own “personalised message” from tech bro Rishi Sunak, tailored to whatever issue mattered most to them. It had clearly been a busy few days on the green screen for the then Prime Minister. Guido thought he’d make one on behalf of Nigel Farage, creating a heartfelt clip of Rishi ‘saying’ to Nigel, “Like you, I think immigration levels are too high.” That touching message didn’t land well with Nigel…
Honourable Mentions:
Headline of the Month: Starmer Made it Easier To Take Over and Discontinue Cases When He Was DPP
Dear Co-conspirators,
On Wednesday night co-conspirators, friends, politicians and the best of the Westminster media pack gathered in Pall Mall for Guido’s twentieth anniversary dinner celebration.
As you would expect from a Guido party the booze flowed freely – for once however I was stone cold sober because I was going to deliver a speech (see below) which I did not want to stumble over. After six general elections, three referendums, eight Prime Ministers and having now even seen off my fourth Spectator editor, I am finally logging off the blog. If a week is a long time in politics, 20 years is an eternity.
Counting my mis-spent youth in student politics, apart from a foray in the City, politics has been my life for four decades. It remains to be seen how easy it will be to detox after being at the centre of things in SW1 for so long. This exit has been planned for some time and I am happy to say that unlike the original Guido Fawkes, I got to choose the time and manner of my ending. I leave the Guido Fawkes Organisation in the good hands of Ross Kempsell, one of the smartest operators in the game and a former Guido reporter from way back in 2017. The team is strong with now seasoned news editor Max Young and Eleanor Wheatley as our senior reporter. There is as ever another who shall remain nameless for now – because we always like to have someone who can do undercover work at Guido. My greatest pride and joy over the years has been to see young people who cut their teeth in the Guido newsroom go on to have even more success in the media. It gives me a sense of avuncular pride to see them all prosper. The time is right for me to stand down not least because as I have got older the newest intake of MPs has got younger and the SpAds even younger still, drinking in Westminster bars with them has become tougher and the recovery time much longer.
On a personal level twenty years of 24/7 focus on SW1 politics has been all consuming. There are hundreds of books that have gone unread because I have been too busy scrolling through tweets – an addiction I plan to beat.
Dear readers I want to thank you co-conspirators for everything, the tips, the fun, the exchanges, no doubt you’ll make your views known, as ever, in the comments. You made Guido Fawkes, I can not thank you all enough.
Thanks to GB News here are all the speeches from the night. First up was Harry Cole, the first ever employee of the Guido Fawkes Organisation and now the political editor of The Sun:
Next was my friend and former blogging rival James Cleverly:
Thanks to a few hours of coaching from the legendary speech crafter Peter Botting I think my speech went well:
My successor Ross Kempsell said some nice things:
You are in the good hands of Publisher Ross Kempsell…
Paul Staines
Boris was in attendance at Guido’s 20th anniversary bash on Wednesday night. GB News‘ Adam Cherry (and Guido alumnus) caught up with him to ask if he still thought Guido was the “dung beneath the rosebush of politics“. See for yourselves..
Normally, it takes a new government a good year for the cracks to start showing. For Labour, it’s taken less than three months. The ongoing freebie scandal involving Sir Keir Starmer and his close ally, Lord Alli, is laying bare the staggering hypocrisy of the Labour leader. Last night, Guido exposed how Starmer filmed his 2021 “work from home, even if it’s inconvenient” video from Alli’s £18 million penthouse—hardly an image of integrity and transparency from ‘Mr Rules’. Sir Keir’s morning coffee will have gone down bitterly today, with headlines from all sides picking up Guido’s scoop…
The Daily Mail splashed: “How Starmer ‘hoodwinked public by filming Covid video in Lord Alli’s £18m penthouse – dressed up to look like his OWN home'”
The Times‘ front page: “Keir Starmer used Labour donor’s £18m flat for pandemic speech”
The Telegraph: “Keir Starmer Covid broadcast urging work from home came from donor’s £18m penthouse”
The Guardian: “Starmer defends borrowing £18m flat as place for son to study during election”
The Independent: “Starmer: It is important to look at the ‘human story’ behind a donation”
Meanwhile, GB News, Sky and other news channels are running with the story throughout the day. Questions about how long Starmer has been using Lord Alli’s luxury pad as his personal office, and why the Covid video and Queen tribute weren’t declared, aren’t going to disappear anytime soon. This scandal is sticking around…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”