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Paul Staines
Born (1967-02-11) 11 February 1967 (age 57)
Ealing, London, United Kingdom
NationalityIrish
Other names"Guido Fawkes"
Known forPolitical blogger
Political partyformerly associated with:
Conservative Party
Social Democratic Party
Progressive Democrats
Websitewww.order-order.com

Paul Staines (born 11 February 1967) is a British-born Irish[1] political blogger. Writer of the pseudonymous "Guido Fawkes' blog of parliamentary plots, rumours & conspiracy",[2] which had as of February 2009, 118,000 visitors per month,[3] his political blog has been described as "one of Britain's leading political blogsites".[4]

Staines acquired an interest in politics as a libertarian in the 1980s and promoted acid house parties in the early 1990s. He then spent several years in finance, before his business relationships broke down in a series of disputes described by a judge as "the most acrimonious litigation, hard fought at every turn of a number of interlocutory skirmishes. No holds were barred; no punches were pulled".[5] Staines declared himself bankrupt in October 2003[6] leaving him with time to devote to his blog, which he started in September 2004.[7]

Education and personal life

Staines was raised a Catholic, attending Salvatorian College Catholic grammar school in the Harrow area.[8][9] He lives in Ireland [10] and was a member of the recently dissolved Irish Progressive Democrats.[11] He holds Irish citizenship.[1] As a young man he was a member of the Social Democratic Party sitting on the national executive of their youth wing,[12] and the Conservative Party.[13]

Staines declared himself bankrupt in 2003 following lengthy litigation over a commercial dispute[14] and in 2008 was convicted of drink-driving.[15]

Politics

Staines is a right-wing libertarian who described in a 2000 publication [16] how he became a libertarian in 1980 after reading Karl Popper's The Open Society and its Enemies. He joined the Young Conservatives whilst at Humberside College of Higher Education "because they were the only people around who were anti-Socialist or at least anti-Soviet", and at this time began calling himself Delaire-Staines, the name shortened by his father to Staines in the 1960s. Having joined the Federation of Conservative Students, he described his politics as "Thatcher on drugs". He relates that at college he was a "right-wing pain in the butt who was more interested in student politics than essays", who went on "to work in the various right-wing pressure groups and think tanks that proliferated in the late eighties". He admitted that his uncompromising attitude towards libertarianism had been harsh and off-putting, but that it was "time for a more effective, kinder, gentler kind of Libertarianism".

He has been active in the Libertarian Alliance. He was pictured at the 1987 Libertarian Alliance conference with a t-shirt supporting UNITA, produced by his Popular Propaganda enterprise (while at college), which produced posters and t-shirts.[17]

Staines worked as "foreign policy analyst" for the Committee for a Free Britain, a right-wing Conservative pressure group, alongside David Hart. Staines acted as editor of British Briefing a long-standing publication by the group that was a "monthly intelligence analysis of the activities of the extreme left" that sought to "smear Labour MPs and left-leaning lawyers and writers".[9]

Staines relates of his work with the Committee:

"I was lobbying at the Council of Europe and at Parliament; I was over in Washington, in Jo'burg, in South America. It was 'let's get guns for the Contras', that sort of stuff. I was enjoying it immensely, I got to go with these guys and fire off AK-47s. I always like to go where the action is, and for that period in the Reagan/Thatcher days, it was great fun, it was all expenses paid and I got to see the world. I used to think that World Briefing was a bit funny. The only scary thing about those publications was the mailing list - people like George Bush - and the fact that Hart would talk to the head of British Intelligence for an hour. I used to think it was us having a laugh, putting some loony right-wing sell in, and that somebody somewhere was taking it seriously. You've got to understand that we had a sense of humour about this." [9]

In 1989, Staines published In the Grip of the Sandinistas: Human Rights in Nicaragua 1979-1989, under the auspices of the International Society for Human Rights (of which he was UK secretary-general), analysing the Sandinista's in Nicaragua from 1979 to 1989. He was then the editor of Human Rights Briefing.[18]

Staines's credibility, he says, was damaged by his increasing enthusiasm for drugs and raves. "One minute l would be on News at One saying 'there's no drugs at these parties' and the next minute I'm supposed to be talking about civil war in Angola. It wasn't working." [9]

He founded the Global Growth Org NGO[19], a campaigning group for free trade for the third world. Campaigns included support for microcredit, as well as a pharmaceutical campaign to "promote the tariff-free trading of drugs in the developing world, secondly defend the re-importation and parallel trading of pharmaceuticals in the rich industrialised nations. Thirdly, to lobby legislators for patient-friendly duration limit". The site shows limited activity in recent month, with its last Hot Sheet published in March 2005, and last blog entry in June 2006.

Acid house

Staines was PR officer for the Sunrise collective, an organiser of raves and acid house parties in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[9] Sunrise avoided legal issues by positioning its large-scale dance parties as private-member clubs, outside of police control.[20]

Faced with opposition from the Conservative government, and a Private Members Bill to clamp down on unlicensed parties, Staines, along with Tony Colston-Hayter, established the Freedom to Party Campaign at the Conservative Party conference in October 1989. Although the campaign had little impact, with a first rally in Trafalgar Square attracting 4,000, and a second only 10,000,[9] Staines was still occasionally active in his role as director of the campaign, arguing in 1995 that that individuals should have the right to have occasional noisy parties at home.[21]

Staines later described, in a Libertarian Alliance publication, the actions of police, using surveillance to clamp down on acid parties, as "truly a regime of which Stalin or Hitler himself would be proud, implementing socialist policies to protect the citizens from their own moral weakness", an action that "happened, not under a Communist regime, but under an increasingly authoritarian Conservative government". He described those opposed to rave parties as "the Lifestyle Police ... the conservative, intolerant bigots who demand uniformity ... supported by comfortable suburbia and the reactionary readers of the Daily Express. For them different means dangerous. They truly believe that they represent decent values when in fact they have narrow intolerant values."[18]

Staines says an explanation he related at the 1989 Conservative conference that Acid House was not named after the drug, but for a Chicago term referring to theft of music, was believed by numerous gullible journalists and MPs, to give a false impression that the music was not drug-related.

Staines offered an enthusiastic endorsement of rave drugs relating how "I have fond memories of taking LSD and pure MDMA, trance-dancing and thinking that I had turned into a psychedelic, orgiastic wisp of smoke - it was the most staggeringly enjoyable, mind-warping experience I have ever had. The sense of self liberation was awesome and is to be recommended.", adding "A lot of my Thatcherite/Libertarian friends get very suspicious when I tell them about the love and peace aspects of taking Ecstasy. To them love and peace equals hippies equals leftist. The feeling of unity and shared enjoyment to them smacks of collectivism, not the rugged individualism that they favour. But the drug actually removes inhibitions, liberating your mind." "You feel a sense of solidarity, but it is totally voluntary, there is no coercion. Libertarians are opposed to coercive collectivism, but if I as an individual choose to enjoy a collective experience because I want to, then that is up to me. I suspect that a lot of rightwingers, Conservative, Thatcherite or Libertarian, cling to their inhibitions and are actually afraid of letting go." He concluded "uptight Conservatives are probably the people who would benefit most from taking drugs, particularly Thatcherites, with their machine-like obsession with efficiency and abstract attachment to the freedom to make money. I'm as much of a believer in Capitalism as the most earnest of Young Conservatives, but couldn't we put acid in the punch at the YC ball and then really have a party?"

Guido Fawkes blog

In September 2004, Staines began writing anonymously about politicians of the United Kingdom parliament, under the name of Guido Fawkes, an alternative name of Guy Fawkes, one of the group that plotted to blow up the Palace of Westminster in 1605.[22] In February 2005, the online version of The Guardian reported that Fawkes' blog shared a fax number with Staines.[23] Although he subsequently refused to confirm the links, further media coverage continued to name Staines as Fawkes until the airing of a BBC Radio 4 documentary [24] on him on 10 February 2007, which gave a fairly comprehensive history and background, and prompted his blog post "So Much For Anonymity". [3]

In 2005, Staines's blog was voted the best in the Political Commentary category of The Backbencher Political Weblog Awards, run by The Guardian. This was an online poll linked to from Guido Fawkes site, and not a poll of Guardian readers specifically.[25] In May 2006, Staines (as Guido Fawkes) co-authored a book with Iain Dale about instances of sleaze from the Labour Party since taking office in 1997.[26]

In April 2006, Staines was one of numerous bloggers subject to an injunction[27] from News International for publishing a picture of undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood. Staines agreed to publish [28] the photo if 10 other bloggers would do so.[29] The picture remained on Staines's site, and subsequently following legal action from George Galloway MP, the photo was released into the public domain.

Staines reported the allegation that John Prescott was having an extramarital affair with an MP, and named the woman in question, saying that such rumours had long been shared among Westminster journalists, but that he was being less hypocritical and breaking the clique by refusing to cover up such stories.[30] The coverage of the Prescott affair drew considerable extra traffic to Staines's blog.[31] In a similar vein, Staines revealed that Andrew Marr had fathered the child of Alice Miles while married to Jackie Ashley, despite a legal injunction that prevented national newspapers from publishing this information.[32] Marr, Miles and Ashley are all prominent British journalists.

He was named at number 36 in the "Top 50 newsmakers of 2006" in The Independent,[33] for his blog, and his role in the Prescott scandal in particular.

Staines encourages readers to forward political documents and information, which he publishes on his blog. One such leak was a strategy document for the Peter Hain for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party campaign. This leak caused embarrassment to Hain's campaign,[34] as it included information on MPs who had not gone public with their support, as well as others who were supposed to be independent.

Conventions and traditions of the blog

Several conventions and idiosyncratic traditions have developed over the years on the blog, which may confuse new readers. On Fridays, a caption contest is run usually featuring an amusing political photograph. The caption contest is one of the most popular features on the blog and usually results in a large number of entries in the comments. Caption comments can often be quite vicious. The vague prospect of a T-shirt as a prize for the best wit has been mentioned in the past, but none has ever been awarded so far (although new readers often argue in vain about who it should go to).

The blog does allow anonymous comments. If Guido replies to an anonymous comment, he addresses his retort invariably to "anonymong". This is a term that has gained some currency with other bloggers.

An almost certainly apocryphal story which has legendary status in the comments section of the blog involves Gordon Brown, a rocking horse and a nappy. The story is frequently referenced, despite the absence of any evidence of its truth. Because of the blog's popularity, the rocking horse story achieved good Google search engine rankings. To date, Guido himself has not endorsed this story.[35]

Tottywatch[36] is an irregular feature that comprises pictures of attendees at political events. Although the pictures are of both men and women, the majority are of attractive young women. The comments section invariably discusses their merits in the crudest terms. Guido began Tottywatch after an exchange with Ros Taylor of The Guardian about her political hot totty feature in the Backbencher column. She denied it was sexist on the grounds that it featured both men and women. In response, Fawkes began producing occasional "Tottywatch" pieces often using pictures taken with a phone camera. The Guardian's "Polly C Wonk"[37], a satirical character who is not a product of the imagination of Ros Taylor, featured a "Givea Fawk" character who was "muttering something about birds and brains while fumbling with a digital camera under the table." The ongoing enmity between Ros Taylor and Paul Staines stems from her being the first to publicly identify[23] Guido Fawkes as probably being Paul Staines. In return the Guido Fawkes blog has frequently derided her writing.

Staines' wife is referred to as Mrs Fawkes and his daughter as Miss Fawkes.

On Monday mornings, the blog features a Monday Morning Point of View cartoon by "Rich&Mark", cartoonist Rich Johnston, archived at the RichAndMark website.

On Fridays a picture caption competition is a popular and often profane amusement. A weekly Guy News TV video started in September 2009 and is mailed to thousands of subscribers over the weekend.

Smith Institute allegations

Staines has made a number of posts on his blog relating to the Smith Institute, a charitable thinktank set up in memory of former Labour leader John Smith, which he alleged to have engaged in party political activities (forbidden under charity law) and links to Gordon Brown. These complaints led on February 1, 2007 to a formal investigation by the Charities Commission.[38] The Commission threatened him with contempt of court proceedings if he did not release any documents, obtained from whistleblowers, relating to political activities by the Smith Institute.[39] Staines has stated on his blog [40] that he intends to protect his anonymous sources.

Peter Hain

Staines has been credited with being the first blogger to "take the scalp" of a serving British minister, following the resignation for a period of well over a year of Peter Hain from the offices of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales in January 2008.[41][42][43].

Smeargate affair

Over the weekend of 11–12 April 2009, Staines exposed in his blog that a series of scurrillous e-mails had been prepared by Damian McBride, a political adviser working at 10 Downing Street, gratuitously smearing a number of Conservative MPs which had been sent to Derek Draper for consideration for publication on the Red Rag blogsite.[44] This led to the resignation of McBride and expressions of regret to the MPs concerned from the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.[45] Staines provided copies of these emails to the News of the World and The Sunday Times and states that, contrary to the comments of his detractors, he did not succeed in his attempts to receive any payments for this.[46]

His success in the McBride affair has occasioned serious criticism from him of the UK lobby correspondent system,which he believes has succumbed to the ethos of political spin.[47]

Criticism

Staines has been criticised for his approach to blogging. He often criticises the mainstream media - the BBC in particular - claiming that it is too close to the political establishment, and that it also keeps internal secrets about political scandals from the public. When allegations about John Prescott's private life appeared, Staines wrote that "You can tell it is a big story because Nick Robinson is ignoring it". Robinson responded via his own blog,[48] accusing Staines of having a political agenda to damage the government.

These criticisms were echoed by Peter Wilby, in New Statesman, who suggested that Staines's claims to have made the news on Prescott were unfounded, as the story had previously been covered in The Times, and that Staines's contribution to the debate was persistent implications of scandal without supporting evidence.[49]

Colin Brown, in response to criticisms from Staines that the media is too cosy with politicians said "We would love to go into print with things that we hear and believe to be true, but cannot prove, but the libel laws are such that we cannot put things into newspapers that he [Guido Fawkes] seems to think that he can get away with on the internet. They don't seem to run by the same rules".[30]

Staines responded, claiming that he is much more vulnerable to libel suits than the print media is, as an individual he does not have a large company backing him, although he says the fact that his blog is published through an offshore company, Global and General Nominees, a Nevis-registered firm offers some protection, as plaintiffs are required to deposit $25,000 in court before commencing any action in Nevis.[50] (The same firm is majority shareholder in MessageSpace, a blog advertising network that sells advertising space on many British political blogs, including PoliticalBetting.com, Iain Dale, ConservativeHome, Labourhome, and Recess Monkey.[51])

In fact under UK libel law, the author, editor, and publisher of libellous claims are all libellers; however, Staines's personal assets are offshore, and he is himself based in Ireland, making him "a libel lawyer’s worst nightmare".[8]

In the Newsnight debate with Staines, Michael White said: “You see a naive conspiratorial view of the political process and of politicians which says in effect they’re all crooks, and they all ought to be in jail, and we will fearlessly expose them on the blogsphere. And it isn’t like that... You can be pretty cavalier with the facts sometimes. Much of the blog, for people who don’t know it, this week is devoted to whether or not Gordon Brown picked his nose in, was it the budget or some other recent event? That’s been your top item.”

During the Newsnight interview with Michael White, Staines appeared to reveal Robinson, a long-term political associate, who served as an arch-Thatcherite National Chairman of The Young Conservatives as 1986-1987 as one of his anonymous sources, something Staines later attempted to clarify, claiming that Robinson had never been one of his sources.[52]

Robinson also felt the need to respond on his blog, saying “For the record, if I have stories I broadcast them and don't give them to bloggers. If I ever had thoughts of doing anything else they were removed by Guido's performance last night which demonstrated an utterly cavalier attitude to facts.”[53]

Various blogs in January 2008 claimed Staines was an employee of the Conservative Party, due to a Guido Fawkes email which was apparently sent from a Conservative Party email server.[54] Staines claimed to have distributed the email via the Conservative Party's lobby email list, which automatically attaches the text of a standard party confidentiality disclaimer when forwarding messages on to subscribers.[55]

References

  1. ^ a b "So there was an Englishman, an Irishman and an I.D. card". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ "Guy Fawkes' blog of parliamentary plots, rumours and conspiracy". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ No title but posted at http://devilskitchen.me.uk/2008/04/march-statpr0n.html#3194205491771704882
  4. ^ Graeme Wilson and Brendan Carlin. Focus on Labour website in peerage row. Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 January 2007
  5. ^ http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2008/1324.html
  6. ^ http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/ViewPDF.aspx?pdf=57079&geotype=London&gpn=12536&type=Issue&all=paul%20staines
  7. ^ "Hain Lets Out the Secret - Ssshhhhh". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ a b So London
  9. ^ a b c d e f Collin, Matthew (1998). Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House (2nd ed.). London: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 1-85242-604-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)—Staines features in this book written by Collin, the ex-editor of UK trend bible i-D magazine.
  10. ^ My Life in Media: Guido Fawkes - Media, News - Independent.co.uk
  11. ^ "Hung Parliament : LDs Should Learn from the PDs". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "Outed". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Hughes : It's a Straight Serious Choice
  14. ^ "No. 57079". The London Gazette. 2003-10-09.
  15. ^ Duff, Oliver (2008-04-30). "Blogger 'Guido Fawkes' is led off to the Tower". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  16. ^ C:\user\SEAN\WRITINGS\LIBERAL\LA\FREELIFE\freelife.037\fl37.wp8
  17. ^ Libertarian Alliance
  18. ^ a b Acid House Parties Against the Lifestyle Police and the Safety Nazis
  19. ^ [1]
  20. ^ Reynolds, S. Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, Routledge, New York 1999 (ISBN 978-0415923736)
  21. ^ Letter: Spare us the party police | Independent, The (London) | Find Articles at BNET.com
  22. ^ "Guido Fawkes". Blogger. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
  23. ^ a b "Who you gonna call?". Guardian Unlimited. 2005-02-02.
  24. ^ BBC - Radio 4 - Profile - 10 February 2007
  25. ^ "The Backbencher Political Weblog Awards: Help choose the winning blogs". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
  26. ^ Dale, Iain (2006). The Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze. Politico's Media. ISBN 1-904734-16-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  27. ^ Murdoch on warpath | Independent on Sunday, The | Find Articles at BNET.com
  28. ^ "Sheikh It Up Baby". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  29. ^ [2]
  30. ^ a b Press Gazette - Fawkes plots to blow up 'cosy' political reporting
  31. ^ Hitwise Intelligence - Heather Hopkins - UK: Guido Fawkes - Fair and Balanced
  32. ^ http://www.order-order.com/2008/01/story-you-wont-get-from-bbc-guardian-or/
  33. ^ The top 50 newsmakers of 2006 - Media, News - Independent.co.uk
  34. ^ Leaked paper threatens to derail Hain's ambitions - icWales
  35. ^ "Dave Doesn't Mention Rocking Horse". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  36. ^ "totty watch". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  37. ^ Polly C Wonk: the secret diary of a thinktank insider | Backbench | Guardian Unlimited Politics
  38. ^ Statement on the Charity Commission and the Smith Institute, Charity Commission website, 1 February 2007
  39. ^ Political blogger warned he could be jailed, Christopher Hope, The Daily Telegraph 16 February 2007
  40. ^ "Sith's Allies Fightback". Guido Fawkes' blog. Retrieved 2007-02-16. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  41. ^ Daniel Hannan. MPs can't distinguish right from legal. Daily Telegraph. 25 January 2008.
  42. ^ Mick Fealty. Blogging's first UK scalp. 24 January 2008.
  43. ^ Roy Greenslade. Has Guido got UK blogging's first scalp?. Guardian Unlimited. 24 January 2008.
  44. ^ Smeargate timeline in The Guardian, 14.04.2009.
  45. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7997464.stm
  46. ^ http://www.order-order.com/2009/04/the-backlash-begins/
  47. ^ Article by Staines in The Times, 17.4.2009.
  48. ^ BBC NEWS | Nick Robinson's Newslog
  49. ^ New Statesman - The internet or something
  50. ^ "So Rosie, Where is Guido's Writ?". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  51. ^ Journalism.co.uk :: Political bloggers launch ad initiative
  52. ^ "Guido Regrets". Guido Fawkes' blog. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  53. ^ BBC NEWS | Nick Robinson's Newslog
  54. ^ Who is Guido working for? : January 2008 : Three Line Whip : Politics : Telegraph Blogs
  55. ^ Guido news update : January 2008 : Three Line Whip : Politics : Telegraph Blogs

Further reading

  • Guido Fawkes' blog of plots, rumours & conspiracy – Staines's blog
  • Collin, Matthew (1998). Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House (2nd ed.). London: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 1-85242-604-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)—Staines features in this book written by Collin, the ex-editor of UK trend bible i-D magazine.
  • Staines, Paul (1991), Staines, Paul (ed.), ACID HOUSE PARTIES AGAINST THE LIFESTYLE POLICE AND THE SAFETY NAZIS (PDF) (55 ed.), Libertarian Alliance, 25 Chapter Chambers, Esterbrooke Street, London SW1P 4NN: Libertarian Alliance, p. 4, ISSN 0267-7059, retrieved 2007-02-19 {{citation}}: External link in |editorlink= (help); Unknown parameter |editorlink= ignored (|editor-link= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: location (link) Article on acid parties by Paul Staines
  • So London - Why Guido is Blair's true legacy.
  • RTÉ Radio 1 - Guido Fawkes - World Report with Brian O'Connell (Audio, Real Player format)
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