Iain Dale and the Glass House Brigade

I returned from Lunch today to see Iain Dale revelling in more political sleaze, this time to do with the Lib Dems and their £2.5m donor Michael Brown (currently staying at the pleasure of her majesty).  Iain has recent form on this, having driven the recent John Prescott story from broadsheet sideline to official investigation.

It is natural for someone like me to be “wound up” by Iain's latest work, not due to it's content (which is perfectly legitimate) but because of the self righteous drivel that his Tory readers insist on spouting when commenting on his site. Responses range from simple name calling (how very mature from “the next party of government”) to utter nonsense, such as “will the lib dems go bust?”. “Not before you do”, is the only sensible reply. These people are in the same league as the readers of Conservative Home who honestly believe that the Lib Dems will end up with only 9 seats after the next general election.

One must obviously seek to rise above this sort of idle banter, but it masks a more important point, especially for Conservatives. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and the general lack of stone throwing regarding the party funding scandal from politicians themselves shows that they do realise that Westminister is one rather large glass house, which is sensible enough.

Commentators like Dale however should be just as careful, if not more so.  They separate themselves from party lines and control as much as possible (see Iain's recent Newsnight appearance for example), and play the role of a “weighted commentator”, not hiding political sympathies yet being reasonable to all sides. This sort of behaviour is done perfectly well by hundreds of professional journalists and commentators, the best example being the superb American broadcaster George Will, who's comments on all aspects of American politics are always well balanced and worth hearing, despite the fact that he is very much a right winger. 

The problem is that Iain Dale (and Guido Fawkes, for that matter) don't get this balance right at all. They swarm so readily over Labour and now Lib Dem misfortune, which is often not at all politically relevant, and yet often only touch lightly on stories which embaress the Conservatives (such as their recent accounts, showing a deficit some 63 times that of the Lib Dems, how many limbs would Francis Maude give to only have £2m in dodgy money to worry about?).

 

To be fair, since Cameron arrived, the Conservatives have steered clear of anything too bad (which is generally easier when not in government), but that will inevitably change, and then where will Iain Dale be? Will he report with the same enthusiasm on the misfortune of Conservatives? You best he won't, which is in itself fine, but he must then admit to what he is, which is a Tory writing biased commentary in order to help Tories.

 

NB. It is worth mentioning, for the sake of balance, that this is not a reaction to the specific Lib Dem story, which is fine & fair.