…And if they don’t, they should.

As the congratulations are passed around the blogosphere after Guido’s victory over Damian McBride and Derek Draper, it’s worth keeping in mind that this is not a victory of the Conservative Party over Labour. This is a victory of People over Politics. And it’s a victory which should make all politicians, not just Labour ones, buck up their habits and start fearing the blogs.

Despite the claims of many observers, Guido Fawkes is not a Conservative blogger. He is a trouble maker, and he doesn’t care who he causes trouble for. His politics have a right-wing bias, but his tactics are not partisan. Guido goes after Labour because he wants impact. Ministers and their Special Advisers hold positions of far greater importance and responsibility than opposition MPs. Their conduct ought to be impeccable, their independence unquestionable. They should be beyond reproach – “whiter than white”, according to the promises of one Mr Anthony Blair.

In short, ministers make rather excellent targets.

Knock down a member of the Shadow Cabinet, you’ve won a political battle but done little of note. Knock down a Minister, however, and you’ve caused a great amount of trouble and embarrassment to a serving Government. If you were hoping to cause trouble and mischief, which would you go for first?

Paul Staines (writer of the Guido Fawkes blog), for his part, doesn’t pretend he’s up to anything grander than this, either. His honest admissions of how he selects targets, and how he works to give his stories maximum impact, is one of the great differences between politicians and bloggers. There’s no pretence, no suggestion that he’s anything other than a highly opinionated and highly politically motivated mischief maker. Guido may be becoming the king of spin, but he doesn’t dress up in a suit and pretend to be serving the People while he works his magic.

If he’s a wolf, he’s a wolf in wolf’s clothing

This is why Sunny Hundal’s best criticism of Guido – that he’s acting hypocritically over the McBride scandal – falls utterly flat: Staines never claimed to be anything other than a mudslinger. What’s more, he quite rightly holds the Government to a higher standard than he would a fellow blogger1. Government officials should be above fabricating rumours about the wives of members of the opposition. End of story.

So what happens in the event that Gordon Brown’s Government is brought down? Where does Guido sit if David Cameron moves into Number 10 and the Government moves closer to his political viewpoint?

Well, he’ll cause trouble for Cameron’s government. He’s the scorpion, the Conservative Party is the frog. He’ll make mischief and cause problems for David Cameron – it’s what he does.

The Conservative Party shouldn’t expect any special favours. In government they will receive no easy ride nor free pass from the blogs. Certainly not from Guido or Devil’s Kitchen or any of the other supposedly ‘right-leaning’ sites. These bloggers are not on the side of the Conservative Party; they’re emphatically not, as some left-wingers still seem to think – backed or endorsed by the Tories. A loose alliance of blogs are currently working together to bring down Gordon Brown, largely on the basis that My Enemy’s Enemy is my Friend. Their goal is not to see the Conservatives in power, except insofar as it would allow them to swiftly destroy them as well.

This will all be put to the test soon. I don’t see how Gordon Brown could win an election at this point, and if David Cameron becomes Prime Minister he’ll be met with a whole new problem – he’ll find that the blogs who used to be on his side will suddenly turn on him like a pack of ravaging dogs.

And if they don’t, I for one will be bitterly disappointed.

P.S. I actually wrote this before commenting on Charlotte’s rather excellent post about Liberal Conspiracy’s uncomfortable few days. Not only is the post well worth reading, the comments have an interesting debate about Guido and the mainstream media.

  1. I wanted to say that the mud Guido is flinging has that all-important extra element: it’s the truth. Unfortunately, his ‘is Brown Bonkers‘ posts ceded that particular ground. [↩]