Monday, December 03, 2007

Guess Who's Up for an Award?!

Nominations for the Channel 4 Political Awards, Politician's Politician – "for outstanding political achievement in 2007":

William Hague
Ian Paisley
Jack Straw
Harriet Harman!

Amazing.

UPDATE: Channel 4 face further embarrassment as Alex Salmond was vetoed for this award by Labour MPs. Bizarrely, he is instead nominated for Opposition politician of the year. Er, last time I looked, he was in government!!!

52 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cometh the hour and all that!

Big Ian has to win!

Newmania said...

Harriet Harman must surely be a mistake and William Hague has not been as effective as I would have liked . Jack Straw was recently the subject of a long character assasination in the New Statesman and never convinces.
Iain Duncan Smith surely is the best come back and a heartwarming story of perseverance and real achievement . David Davies remains the star and his backing of David Cameron is absolutely pivotal to the success of the "Strong team" as compared to one nutcase now a figure of pity.

One of those two would be my choice

Anonymous said...

Who nominated Harriet Harman? Hit that boy.

Old BE said...

Harman will have achieved something outstanding if she is still in her job at the end of the month!

Daily Referendum said...

You are having an effing Giraffe!

Anonymous said...

Jack Straw by a mile.

"...we were particularly impressed by his seamless impersonation of Francis Urquhart, weaving his way to the top through the carnage..."

Cripes

Anonymous said...

Oh Iain, How can we vote?

copydude said...

Harriet Harman's achievement was in having George Galloway suspended from Parliament for 'lack of transparency' in the funding of his charity.

From the Guardian of July 24, 2007:

'Urging MPs to back the move, Harriet Harman, the leader of the house, said: "The committee has concluded that Mr Galloway has failed to meet the standards expected'

At the time, Galloway complained to Harriet:

"Being lectured by the current House of Commons on the question of the funding of political campaigns is like being accused of having bad taste by Donald Trump, like being accused of slouching by the Hunchback of Notre Dame."

How right he was!

Anonymous said...

Harriet's achievement will be to bring down the Brown Government. She has my vote.

Alan Douglas said...

Iain, I hope Harperson gets it "for outstanding political achievement in 2007" - for finally bringing to wide notice the utter corruption and bankruptcy of our present beloved Government !

That would be a deserved award.

Alan Douglas

Anonymous said...

Bit of a desperate list.

Sir-C4' said...

It's a two-house race between Hague and Paisley

How much did Randy Jack and Harriet The Liar bribe Channel Four to get on that list?

Anonymous said...

The inclusion of Harriet Harman is rather unnerving. "Jack Straw weaving his way through the carnage ...". Excellent.

I don't think it can be William Hague, because he hasn't done enough this year.

Actually, I don't see a Politician's Politician in that list at all.

Anonymous said...

You must admit, Galloway has a quicker, and more articulate wit, than just about anyone else in the House." (Is he still in the House? His fortunes change so frequently, I get muddled.)

Anonymous said...

I shall be multiple voting for Harriet to create maximum embarrassment if she wins

Anonymous said...

HH has made an outstanding political achievement! She has opened up quite a large can of worms and taken the Government another few points down the popualrity scale...

Newmania said...

First Norman Baker and now Galloway Verity are you sure I cannot pop round with some pieces of cucumber for your temples.. in a metaphorical sense .Neither of these people are more than Grandstanding charlatans and Galloway may well be worse.

IMHO

Anonymous said...

Well if that doesn’t prove Harriet Harman is committed to clean political funding I don't know what does, there you are, months ago she was on galloway's case, why would she sort him out and then take didgy money herself, answer me that eh, doesn't make sense.

She won't win though because she's the only working class candidate, the rest are all Oxbridge toffs, they'll give it to one their onw, do a little deal behind closed doors and stitch the rest of us up, same old same old.

Anonymous said...

Off subject, I know, but why do you think Mrs Ashcroft (aka Wendy Alexander) has called her son Michael? Is this ignorance or is there something more we should know?

Anonymous said...

Newmania - Don't be cheeky. Of course Galloway's a charalatan! Whoever said he isn't? Did he even?

You cannot deny my assessment, though, that he has an engagingly quick wit. He says some very funny things, some of them intentionally.

Anonymous said...

Is there a cheque for £5000 for the winner?

Stan Bull said...

I rather appreciate Harriet's input to the Tory revival. Give that woman a peerage!
Harriet's blog is in need of an update though.....
http://blog.harrietharman.org/

Anonymous said...

Ian Paisley should be awarded Traitor of the Year.

An utter hypocrite who has built his entire political career on denouncing terrorist mass murderers, he now sits comfortably in Northern Ireland's government with Sinn Fein/IRA thus furnishing Adams and McGuinness with the veneer of mainstream respectability. Until very recently he used to delight in telling the world exactly what they are and what they have done.

In NI there are so many pictures in circulation of McGuinness and him laughing together like old pals that they are widely derided as the Chuckle Brothers.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I'd give it to William Hague, for services to New Labour and keeping the Tories out, but you'd think I was taking the piss.

So I think it should go to Paisley for backing down.

Gary

Chris Paul said...

Shoo in for Papa Doc, my ma and pa's MP as it goes.

Anonymous said...

She won't win though because she's the only working class candidate,

yes, her father was a lowly Harley St surgeon and her mother scraped by as a solicitor.
Her schooling at St Paul's Girls, with all the other urchins, was tough but made her into the streetfighter she is today.

You are taking the p***, aren't you?

Good. Very funny. Ha ha ha.

Anonymous said...

Dear DES, yes, HH is certainly the 'working-class candidate' as the neice of an earl and an old girl of St Paul's.

And I am Marie of Roumania.

Anonymous said...

Why not give it jointly to Paisley and his chuckle brother McGuinness, there could be sibling rivalry if one gets and the other doesn't.

Ian Paisley is an inspiration eh? After being jailed for hate crime.

Sorry state of affairs.

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember Iain Dale saying during the deputy Labour leader contest something on the lines that he wanted Harriet to win as she was a walking disaster and had to potential to cause a lot of damage to Labour.

I've been trying to find the exact quote. It might be worth digging it out.

Chris Paul said...

Thinking about it a bit more you could put an exclamation mark after each one of them.

But sadly no "Vince Cable!"

Anonymous said...

Dirty European Socialist
HH the only working class candidate? Funny, I would have thought that a working class person would be more likely to go to Rotherham Comp (as did William Hague) than a fee-paying independent girls' school. I don't know about William's family, but they're probably not as well-known as the Longfords, to whom she is related - as well as all the other politicians in her family. Some people do manage to get to Oxbridge on academic merit you know.

Anonymous said...

Iain, I thought Dirty European Socialist had been given the bum's rush?

Anonymous said...

Surely George Osbourne deserves a mention from single handedly setting off the explosive that turned Labour's 13 point lead into a 13 point deficit within two months.

copydude said...

Some commentators might want to Google Iain's comments on the previous Channel 4 'political achievement' Awards.

Much as we all want Harriet to win, it's still only a phone-in.

I suspect Ch 4 has just realised that sleaze=ratings.

This year's inclusion of Harriet is obviously a pilot for 'Strictly Come Doning'.

Series worthy note is that most Labour fundrakers are couples.

(Blairs' legacy?)

Mulligan said...

HH working class? Well DES that piece of nonsense has blown whatever little shred of credibility you had out of the water mate. ROTFLMAO.

What next , the Milibands were cheeky chappy East End Barrow Boys?

Savonarola said...

Hague is obviously on the list because of his Wilberforce speech in HoC.

Ian Duncan Smith, not on the list, head and shoulders above the current list. He has actually done something of real value.

BTW posting by DES is not the real DES.

Anonymous said...

Ellis McGowan - Thanks for the information about William Hague and Boris. It's encouraging to note that some people in the sleazy game of politics still behave with honour.

Conrad Black will eventually be cleared.

Why don't you go back to the troll station and find another bus to ride?

Anonymous said...

Harman is up for the "Denying D*ck up a Dgs *rse Award"

The rules for this award are when caught in the act you make up the most breath taking excuse.

Her excuse was "I didn't know it was a dog, I didn't know that was a d*ck and and didn't know that was its *rse."

Anonymous said...

Dirty European Socialist - what ever you want to call Ian Paisley (and personally I can't stand him) Oxbridge he is not.
He may have bought a dodgy doctorate in the USA, but he didn't go to Oxbridge. NEVER. NEVER. NEVER.

Anonymous said...

Dirty European Socialist - what ever you want to call Ian Paisley (and personally I can't stand him) Oxbridge he is not.
He may have bought a dodgy doctorate in the USA, but he didn't go to Oxbridge. NEVER. NEVER. NEVER.

copydude said...

How is it possible that verity has not made a sizeist comment on this thread?

Could she at least concede that Harriet has made a WEIGHTY contribution, with a WIDE regard for issues while being an XXL ent debater. For example.

Anonymous said...

taytoian - "He may have bought a dodgy doctorate in the US."

Why the US? If all you people hate the US so much, and think the citizens of the most powerful country in the world got there by accident and have no brains, honour or talent, why are you so eager to take up every last drop of their slang and catchphrases (often misusing them to hysterical effect) and every last one of their habits?

Anonymous said...

Verity - in the words of Michael Winner - calm down dear

I never said that I hated the US, merely that Ian Paisley had a dodgy degree from an institute based there.

It is a fact Paisley has an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree awarded by Bob Jones University, a Christian college in Greenville, South Carolina. It is from this that he uses the Doctor label.

My post was to inform people that Paisley was not Oxbridge educated. He was educated in Northern Ireland and in Bible College in Wales.

Now your rant at me was misplaced. I think the US is much maligned and have a lot of time for much of what they do and say.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps because he DID buy a dodgy doctorate in the US. I like the notion of the big Paiz being 'Oxbridge'.

Alex said...

Dodgy degrees? My Oxbridge MA cost me a fiver.

Anonymous said...

I am not your "dear" in the words of Michael Winner or anyone else.

You said he "may" have bought a dodgy degree. You didn't say that you knew that he had. Had you cited the facts, I would not have thought you were presuming. I get fed up with people slagging off the US for no reason except envy.

M. Hristov said...

Is this some sort of adjunct to Channel 4’s enthusiastic championing of “The Turner Prize” ? The nominations seem equally bizarre. Surely that bloke who dresses as a bear could win this, as well as “The Turner Prize”.

Perhaps the real reason for the nominations are as follows:-

1) W. Hague for services to “The Blair Years”. The most boring political programme on T.V. (most people switched over to Channel 4).

2) Jack Straw for Olympian fawning to H.M. the Queen, by reviving the idea of the Lord Chancellor walking backwards. Thus allowing Channel 4 to sneer at him and, obliquely, the Royals (which they love to do).

3) Ian Paisley for finally succumbing to ambition and getting his wife made a Baroness in the process. Giving Channel 4 the smug satisfaction that all right wing extremists become liberals in the end.

4) Harriet Harman for providing news items for months and months.

I think that Ian Paisley will win.

Anonymous said...

Iain, you say 'Alex Salmon was vetoed for this award by Labour MPs.' I don't understand. How can they exercise a veto?

Anonymous said...

Verity,

the phrase 'He may have bought a dodgy doctorate in the USA' does not state or imply any criticism of that nation, it is merely a geographical point. I put it to you that only someone who was extremely over-sensitive would infer that it was in any way pejorative.

Or, to paraphrase:

CALM DOWN DEAR.

Anonymous said...

I hate Salmond with an absolute passion , and btw he is in oppostion he an MP.......oh wait he is not anymore although he stil get paid to be NOW THAT IS A SCANDAL!!!

Anonymous said...

Savonarola:
There may be something in what you say of Hague and IDS.

Writing from the higher ground in politics, this demands a more responsible explanation.

IDS was disliked by your party and given the boot, whereas William was given the elbow by the whole Country.

A feat that I have forgotten in Socialist circles, I'm pleased to say.

Gary

Anonymous said...

houndtang said...
"Perhaps because he DID buy a dodgy doctorate in the US. I like the notion of the big Paiz being 'Oxbridge'."

He didn't buy his dodgy U.S. from the unaccredited Bob Jones University, he was awarded it as an honorary degree by his close friend Bob Jones.