David Hennigan: Massive Splash in National Paper

ENNIGAN! Many congratulations to parliamentary professional - paid for by you the taxpayer - Dave Hennigan! This would be on his success in placing a story in today's Daily Express.

It's very small, and very crappy, but it is on page four. Not a big splash on the coveted "early right hand page". Or even on the web. More a space filling piddle in the gutter. But nonetheless! Dave mate. Well done. You are earning your parliamentary allowance mate. No doubt about it. Hats off!

This deeply wounding exclusive will surely turn the tide of sex sleaze, asbestos death and dirty carve ups currently afflicting Sir Cyril Smith's Rochdale Lib Dem Franchise. Current puppet the unsatisfactory Paul Rowen MP.

The story, as we reported here, involves an old Labour website, set up in such a way that any member of indeed ex-Member can alter the content, and subsequently hacked last weekend with a "disloyal" picture of Foreign Secretary David Miliband, ever popular with the socialists of the Lancashire valleys, being inserted to replace another of Gordon and Sarah Brown outside Number 10.

This hack was suspiciously immediately reported by those non-partisan news sniffers at Lib Dem Voice. They really should get Toxic Dave at arms length as soon as possible. Instead of doing his dirty work for him. But if they don't know this by now they will surely learn this by the end of this dirty old road to oblivion*.

Since the rather messy site was set up it had received around 60 hits in total. Which is the same as a good hour for this blog. This hit rate being achieved over a period of many months and years. Though most being a direct result of LOL posting a link this Wednesday. The site doesn't even have a link to Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for the seat for goodness sake! A veritable Marie Celeste of the web. No hands on deck as she drifts through a ghostly shroud of absence.

One expects Lib Dem Voice to be taken in by this nonsense. They would wouldn't they. And there's no surprise that Iain Dale should link to it in his Daley Dozen. But why on earth would the Express Newsdesk even give this non-story four lines? Oh yeah. That's right. They hate Gordon more even than Guido Fawkes does, which is quite a lot.


Meanwhile back in the wild North West, in Rochdale 30,000 glossy advertorial magazines have just hit the beknighted doormats of Rochdale Town. Looks like a sordid commercial venture to me. Dripping with business adverts and associated advertorial pieces with a whiff of noose, dagger, blindfold and not to forget rolled up trouser leg.

Within this beastly "organ" Saint Cyril delivers a sermon on the occasion of his 80th. As Cyril has retired from politics and has an X in the No Publicity box these days we can only assume this too is the work of the Boy Wonder Drunkagain.

No doubt the Editor thought the people of Rochdale would love to read such a lovely puff piece from the House of Cyril in Emma Street in the heart of darkness that has been Lib Dem turf for 120 years, uninterrupted. Not even by an asbestos scandal killing 1000s of people. And largely down to Cyril.

Now, a month ago I had to commit something to print for the Parliamentary Monitor conference edition and correctly predicted a GB gold rush. But when this steaming pile went to the printers, no doubt the editor and the financial backers thought such fawning drivel about Toxic Cyril was not going to be that controversial. And in the hostages to fortune feature they've trailed in last.

LOL would recommend that this Rochdale rag keeps up a series of pieces on the old bastard as, believe you me, this is good for the readership figures. Even if it does spawn some strange Google Adsense titles.

Sadly Blogger would not process my scan claiming that Cyril is a corrupt 'file (above), which is at least quite amusing.

* UPDATE 17:34: Can anyone confirm the rumour that there are two groups of careerists now prowling Rochdale waiting for the end game? Potential by-election PPCs to replace Rowen when the fall comes? And potential parliamentary assistants to replace 'ennigan on his ridiculously inflated salary package? Including B&B at the office as needed.