Paul Staines
Encyclopedia
Paul Staines is an English
-born Irish
right-wing political blog
ger. Writer of the pseudonym
ous "Guido Fawkes' blog of parliamentary plots, rumours & conspiracy", which had as of February 2009, 118,000 visitors per month, his political blog
has been described as "one of Britain's leading political blogsites". In 2011 he started an e-petition
to bring back capital punishment
in the UK, stating "I would personally execute child killers"
.
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". Staines declared himself bankrupt in October 2003 leaving him with time to devote to his blog, which he started in September 2004.
, attending Salvatorian College
Catholic grammar school in Harrow
. He lives in Ireland and was a member of the now defunct Irish political party, the Progressive Democrats
. He holds Irish citizenship. As a young man he was a member of the Social Democratic Party
sitting on the national executive of their youth wing, and the Conservative Party
.
Staines declared himself bankrupt in 2003 following lengthy litigation over a commercial dispute and in 2008 was convicted of drink-driving for the second time.
'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". Staines has stated that he is a republican.
Staines 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.
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".
Staines relates of his work with the Committee:
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.
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."
He founded the Global Growth Org NGO, 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.
s and acid house
parties in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Sunrise avoided legal issues by positioning its large-scale dance parties as private-member clubs, outside of police control.
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 10,000, Staines was still occasionally active in his role as director of the campaign, arguing in 1995 that individuals should have the right to have occasional noisy parties at home.
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."
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?"
, 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. In February 2005, the online version of The Guardian
reported that Fawkes' blog shared a fax number with Staines. 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 about him on 10 February 2007, which gave a fairly comprehensive history and background, and prompted his blog post "So Much For Anonymity".
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. 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.
In April 2006, Staines was one of numerous bloggers subject to an injunction from News International for publishing a picture of undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood
. Staines agreed to publish the photo if 10 other bloggers would do so. 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. The coverage of the Prescott affair drew considerable extra traffic to Staines's blog.
He was named at number 36 in the "Top 50 newsmakers of 2006" in The Independent, 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, as it included information on MPs who had not gone public with their support, as well as others who were supposed to be independent.
The blog does allow anonymous comments. If Guido replies to an anonymous comment, he addresses his retort invariably to "anonymong".
Tottywatch 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. In response, Fawkes began producing occasional "Tottywatch" pieces often using pictures taken with a phone camera. The Guardian's "Polly C Wonk", a satirical character has featured a "Givea Fawk" character who was "muttering something about birds and brains while fumbling with a digital camera under the table."
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.
A weekly Guy News TV video started in September 2009 and is mailed to thousands of subscribers over the weekend.
, 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 Charity Commission. 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. Staines has stated on his blog that he intends to protect his anonymous sources.
" 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.
, 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. This led to the resignation of McBride and expressions of regret to the MPs concerned from the Prime Minister
, Gordon Brown
. 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.
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.
site epetitions.direct.gov.uk to create the petition "Restoration of Capital Punishment" requiring 100,000 votes will be "eligible for debate in the House of Commons"
Staines published a series of posts detailing previous examples of crimes that in his opinion should receive the death penalty Guido Fawkes and quotes from Conservative MPs Philip Davies, Priti Patel and Andrew Turner Guido Fawkes supporting his petition and the reintroduction of capital punishment
to the UK.
He used Twitter
to claim "Since the abolition of the death penalty in the '60s the murder rate has doubled." and stated "I would personally execute child killers. Think you'll find a lot of fathers would feel the same."
As of 17th of November 2011 the petition had collected 24,157 signatures.
pre-submission of former journalist and Labour Party spin-doctor Alastair Campbell
. All pre-submissions are given under strict and full confidentiality, and all core participants - including victims, the Metropolitan Police
and the Crown Prosecution Service
- are also signatories. Staines stated that he had obtained the submission legally. Lord Justice Leveson
immediately called him to the inquiry to make a statement under cross-examination.
is ignoring it". Robinson responded via his own blog, accusing Staines of having a political agenda to damage the government.
These criticisms were echoed by Peter Wilby, in the 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.
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".
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. (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.)
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 President of the Oxford University Conservative Association
in 1986–1987 as one of his anonymous sources, something Staines later attempted to clarify, claiming that Robinson had never been one of his sources.
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.”
Staines was criticised by Iain Dale
and Michael White in September 2010 for publishing rumours about William Hague
, alleging that he shared a hotel room with his newly appointed special advisor
. Hague confirmed that he had shared a hotel room with the young man but denied any "improper relationship".
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
right-wing political blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger. Writer of the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
ous "Guido Fawkes' blog of parliamentary plots, rumours & conspiracy", which had as of February 2009, 118,000 visitors per month, his political blog
Political blog
A political blog is a common type of blog that comments on politics. In liberal democracies the right to criticize the government without interference is considered an important element of free speech...
has been described as "one of Britain's leading political blogsites". In 2011 he started an e-petition
E-Petitioner
e-Petitioner is an online petition system that allows citizens to raise and sign a petition, read background information on the issue, and add comments to an online forum associated with each petition...
to bring back capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
in the UK, stating "I would personally execute child killers"
.
Staines acquired an interest in politics as a libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
in the 1980s and promoted acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
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". Staines declared himself bankrupt in October 2003 leaving him with time to devote to his blog, which he started in September 2004.
Education and personal life
Staines was raised a CatholicRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, attending Salvatorian College
Salvatorian College
The Salvatorian College is a voluntary aided school for boys between the ages of 11-18, situated in Wealdstone in the London Borough of Harrow, in the Trusteeship of the Society of the Divine Saviour...
Catholic grammar school in Harrow
Harrow, London
Harrow is an area in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, United Kingdom. It is a suburban area and is situated 12.2 miles northwest of Charing Cross...
. He lives in Ireland and was a member of the now defunct Irish political party, the Progressive Democrats
Progressive Democrats
The Progressive Democrats , commonly known as the PDs, was a pro-free market liberal political party in the Republic of Ireland.Launched on 21 December 1985 by Desmond O'Malley and other politicians who had split from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the Progressive Democrats took liberal positions on...
. He holds Irish citizenship. As a young man he was a member of the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (UK)
The Social Democratic Party was a political party in the United Kingdom that was created on 26 March 1981 and existed until 1988. It was founded by four senior Labour Party 'moderates', dubbed the 'Gang of Four': Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams...
sitting on the national executive of their youth wing, and the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
.
Staines declared himself bankrupt in 2003 following lengthy litigation over a commercial dispute and in 2008 was convicted of drink-driving for the second time.
Politics
Staines is a former libertarian who described in a 2000 publication how he became a libertarian in 1980 after reading Karl PopperKarl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH FRS FBA was an Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics...
's The Open Society and its Enemies
The Open Society and Its Enemies
The Open Society and Its Enemies is an influential two-volume work by Karl Popper written during World War II. Failing to find a publisher in the United States, it was first printed in London by Routledge in 1945...
. 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
Federation of Conservative Students
The Federation of Conservative Students was the student organisation of the British Conservative Party from the late 1940s to 1986. It was created to act as a bridge between the student movement and the Conservative Party....
, 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". Staines has stated that he is a republican.
Staines has been active in the Libertarian Alliance
Libertarian Alliance
The Libertarian Alliance comprises two libertarian think tanks in Great Britain that promote free-market economics and civil liberties...
. He was pictured at the 1987 Libertarian Alliance conference with a t-shirt supporting UNITA
UNITA
The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought with the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola in the Angolan War for Independence and then against the MPLA in the ensuing civil war .The war was one...
, produced by his Popular Propaganda enterprise (while at college), which produced posters and t-shirts.
Staines worked as "foreign policy analyst" for the Committee for a Free Britain
Committee for a Free Britain
The Committee for a Free Britain was a right-wing political pressure-group in the United Kingdom...
, a right-wing Conservative pressure group, alongside David Hart
David Hart (UK political activist)
David Hart was a British writer, businessman, and adviser to Margaret Thatcher.-Early life:David Hart was the eldest of the two sons of Anglo-Jewish businessman Louis Albert Hart, the founder of the Henry Ansbacher merchant bank. Hart came from a prominent Anglo-Jewish family which has contributed...
. 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".
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.
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
International Society for Human Rights
The International Society for Human Rights is an international non-governmental, non-profit human rights organization with Participative Status with the Council of Europe and is a member of the Liaison Committee of the Non-Governmental Organisations at the Council of Europe...
(of which he was UK secretary-general), analysing the Sandinista's
Sandinista National Liberation Front
The Sandinista National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas in both English and Spanish...
in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
from 1979 to 1989. He was then the editor of Human Rights Briefing.
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."
He founded the Global Growth Org NGO, 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 raveRave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
s and acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
parties in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Sunrise avoided legal issues by positioning its large-scale dance parties as private-member clubs, outside of police control.
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 10,000, Staines was still occasionally active in his role as director of the campaign, arguing in 1995 that individuals should have the right to have occasional noisy parties at home.
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
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
. For them different means dangerous. They truly believe that they represent decent values when in fact they have narrow intolerant values."
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
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
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 parliamentParliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, under the name of Guido Fawkes, an alternative name of Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...
, one of the group that plotted to blow up the Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
in 1605. In February 2005, the online version of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reported that Fawkes' blog shared a fax number with Staines. 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 about him on 10 February 2007, which gave a fairly comprehensive history and background, and prompted his blog post "So Much For Anonymity".
In 2005, Staines's blog was voted the best in the Political Commentary category of The Backbencher Political Weblog Awards, run by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. This was an online poll linked to from Guido Fawkes site, and not a poll of Guardian readers specifically. In May 2006, Staines (as Guido Fawkes) co-authored a book with Iain Dale
Iain Dale
Iain Campbell Dale is best known for his conservative-minded British political blog Iain Dale's Diary and for his frequent appearances on UK news channels as a political commentator. He is also a publisher, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician...
about instances of sleaze from the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
since taking office in 1997.
In April 2006, Staines was one of numerous bloggers subject to an injunction from News International for publishing a picture of undercover journalist Mazher Mahmood
Mazher Mahmood
Mazher Mahmood is an undercover reporter with The Sunday Times newspaper. He previously spent 20 years working for the defunct British tabloid newspaper News of the World. He has been dubbed as "Britain’s most notorious undercover reporter."...
. Staines agreed to publish the photo if 10 other bloggers would do so. The picture remained on Staines's site, and subsequently following legal action from George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
MP, the photo was released into the public domain.
Staines reported the allegation that John Prescott
John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
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. The coverage of the Prescott affair drew considerable extra traffic to Staines's blog.
He was named at number 36 in the "Top 50 newsmakers of 2006" in The Independent, 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
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party campaign. This leak caused embarrassment to Hain's campaign, 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".
Tottywatch 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. In response, Fawkes began producing occasional "Tottywatch" pieces often using pictures taken with a phone camera. The Guardian's "Polly C Wonk", a satirical character has featured a "Givea Fawk" character who was "muttering something about birds and brains while fumbling with a digital camera under the table."
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
Rich Johnston
Rich Johnston is a writer who writes about the comic book industry.-Early life:Johnston grew up in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, studied politics at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and was an advertising copywriter until 2009; he currently lives in Kingston Vale, London, with his wife, Janice...
, archived at the RichAndMark website.
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 InstituteSmith Institute
The Smith Institute is a left-wing think tank in the United Kingdom. It was founded in memory of the late John Smith QC MP, former Leader of the Labour Party....
, a charitable thinktank set up in memory of former Labour leader John Smith
John Smith (UK politician)
John Smith was a British Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994...
, which he alleged to have engaged in party political activities (forbidden under charity law) and links to Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
. These complaints led on February 1, 2007 to a formal investigation by the Charity Commission. The Commission threatened him with contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
proceedings if he did not release any documents, obtained from whistleblowers, relating to political activities by the Smith Institute. Staines has stated on his blog that he intends to protect his anonymous sources.
Peter Hain
Staines has been credited with being the first blogger to "take the scalpScalping
Scalping is the act of removing another person's scalp or a portion of their scalp, either from a dead body or from a living person. The initial purpose of scalping was to provide a trophy of battle or portable proof of a combatant's prowess in war...
" of a serving British minister, following the resignation for a period of well over a year of Peter Hain
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...
from the offices of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is a post in the British Cabinet, responsible for the Department for Work and Pensions. It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the Employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.The Ministry...
and Secretary of State for Wales
Secretary of State for Wales
The Secretary of State for Wales is the head of the Wales Office within the British cabinet. He or she is responsible for ensuring Welsh interests are taken into account by the government, representing the government within Wales and overseeing the passing of legislation which is only for Wales...
in January 2008.
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 McBrideDamian McBride
Damian McBride is a former civil servant and former special advisor to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. McBride began his civil service career at HM Customs and Excise...
, a political adviser working at 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
, gratuitously smearing a number of Conservative MPs which had been sent to Derek Draper
Derek Draper
Derek William Draper is a former lobbyist, former editor of the LabourList website, and psychotherapist. As a political advisor during the 1990s he became widely known for his role in two political scandals, "Lobbygate" and "Smeargate".-Biography:Draper was educated at Southlands High School in...
for consideration for publication on the Red Rag
Red Rag
The Red Rag blogsite was at the centre of a UK political scandal that became known as smeargate. The scandal broke on 11 April 2009 when it was reported by the Daily Telegraph that Gordon Brown's special adviser, Damian McBride, had sent a series of emails to left wing political blogger Derek...
blogsite. This led to the resignation of McBride and expressions of regret to the MPs concerned from the Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
. Staines provided copies of these emails to the News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
and The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *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.
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.
Petition to restore the death penalty in the UK
On July 29th 2011, Staines published a post on his blog entitled "Government Launches e-Petitions Website, Guido Submits “Restoration of Capital Punishment” Petition". . He used the HM Government e-petitionsE-Petitioner
e-Petitioner is an online petition system that allows citizens to raise and sign a petition, read background information on the issue, and add comments to an online forum associated with each petition...
site epetitions.direct.gov.uk to create the petition "Restoration of Capital Punishment" requiring 100,000 votes will be "eligible for debate in the House of Commons"
Staines published a series of posts detailing previous examples of crimes that in his opinion should receive the death penalty Guido Fawkes and quotes from Conservative MPs Philip Davies, Priti Patel and Andrew Turner Guido Fawkes supporting his petition and the reintroduction of capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
to the UK.
He used Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
to claim "Since the abolition of the death penalty in the '60s the murder rate has doubled." and stated "I would personally execute child killers. Think you'll find a lot of fathers would feel the same."
As of 17th of November 2011 the petition had collected 24,157 signatures.
Leveson Inquiry
In late November 2011, Staines posted on his Guido Fawkes blog the Leveson InquiryLeveson Inquiry
The Leveson Inquiry is an ongoing public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal. On 6 July 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron announced to Parliament that a public government inquiry would convene to further...
pre-submission of former journalist and Labour Party spin-doctor Alastair Campbell
Alastair Campbell
Alastair John Campbell is a British journalist, broadcaster, political aide and author, best known for his work as Director of Communications and Strategy for Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003, having first started working for Blair in 1994...
. All pre-submissions are given under strict and full confidentiality, and all core participants - including victims, the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
and the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
- are also signatories. Staines stated that he had obtained the submission legally. Lord Justice Leveson
Brian Leveson
Brian Henry Leveson QC , previously styled as the Honourable Mr Justice Leveson, now styled as the Right Honourable Lord Justice Leveson, is an English Judge, a Lord Justice of Appeal for England and Wales and, since 2010, head of the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.It was announced on 13...
immediately called him to the inquiry to make a statement under cross-examination.
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 RobinsonNick Robinson
Nicholas Anthony "Nick" Robinson is a British journalist and political editor for the BBC. Robinson was interested in politics from a young age, and went on to study a Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree at Oxford University, where he was also President of the Oxford University Conservative...
is ignoring it". Robinson responded via his own blog, accusing Staines of having a political agenda to damage the government.
These criticisms were echoed by Peter Wilby, in the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, 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.
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".
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. (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
Iain Dale
Iain Campbell Dale is best known for his conservative-minded British political blog Iain Dale's Diary and for his frequent appearances on UK news channels as a political commentator. He is also a publisher, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician...
, ConservativeHome
ConservativeHome
Conservative Home is a British political website started by Tim Montgomerie prior to the 2005 United Kingdom general election campaign, that aims to represent UK grassroots Conservative opinion.-Editors:...
, Labourhome
Labourhome
Labourhome is a popular political blog specializing in British politics started by Alex Hilton and Jag Singh. Launched in 2006 with the tagline, "Back to the roots," the site targets supporters of the British Labour Party....
, and Recess Monkey.)
In the Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
debate with Staines, Michael White
Michael White (journalist)
Michael White is an associate editor and former political editor of The Guardian.-Early life:White was raised in Wadebridge, Cornwall...
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 President of the Oxford University Conservative Association
Oxford University Conservative Association
The Oxford University Conservative Association, or OUCA is a student political organisation founded in 1924 whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford...
in 1986–1987 as one of his anonymous sources, something Staines later attempted to clarify, claiming that Robinson had never been one of his sources.
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.”
Staines was criticised by Iain Dale
Iain Dale
Iain Campbell Dale is best known for his conservative-minded British political blog Iain Dale's Diary and for his frequent appearances on UK news channels as a political commentator. He is also a publisher, broadcaster and former Conservative Party politician...
and Michael White in September 2010 for publishing rumours about William Hague
William Hague
William Jefferson Hague is the British Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State. He served as Leader of the Conservative Party from June 1997 to September 2001...
, alleging that he shared a hotel room with his newly appointed special advisor
Special advisers in the United Kingdom
A special adviser works in a supporting role to the British government. With media, political or policy expertise, their duty is to assist and advise government ministers.-Role:...
. Hague confirmed that he had shared a hotel room with the young man but denied any "improper relationship".
Further reading
- Guido Fawkes' blog of plots, rumours & conspiracy – Staines's blog—Staines features in this book written by Collin, the ex-editor of UK trend bible i-DI-Di-D is a British magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. i-D was founded by designer and former Vogue art director Terry Jones in 1980. The first issue was published in the form of a hand-stapled fanzine with text produced on a typewriter...
magazine. Article on acid parties by Paul Staines - RTÉ Radio 1 – Guido Fawkes – World Report with Brian O'Connell (Audio, Real Player format)