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PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
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PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
PoliticsHome | Only the latest five entries on the PhiWire are visible to non-subscribers
Wednesday 20th July 2011 | 14:47
Thanks to the BBC's fixer Paul Lambert, the world managed to see some great TV footage of Murdoch's pieman as he was being held by the cops yesterday.
But it seems that the House authorities, already furious at the breach of security by Jonathan May-Bowles (aka @jonniemarbles), were not pleased with all of the actions of the man known universally as Gobby.
Some in the House were unhappy at the way Gobby and his TV camera pursued May-Bowles and the cops through the building, (at one stage intrepidly running down an up escalator, I hear). As a result, Gobby* has had his Westminster pass withdrawn.
The House has pretty strict rules on where you can and cannot film and it may be that they've got him bang to rights. The only issue is whether there is any leeway for the extenuating circumstances of the mayhem of yesterday. But it may be that it's precisely because of the mayhem that the rules are being upheld so forcefully.
I've blogged about this Westminster legend before (see here) and many MPs, not to say ministers, would be sad to see him excluded permanently. I wonder how long he will be sin-binned?
I hear that SkyNews have also had their right to film in the House temporarily withdrawn, for upto six weeks (but don't know when it becomes active).
Meanwhile, the Speaker was certainly steamed up about the DCMS security breach. So much so that he has today announced an external investigation into the affair, with a remit for ensuring it never happens again.
It could be that the anarchic actions of Johnny Marbles could lead to serious repercussions for public access to select committees.
Tory MP Robert Halfon raised in a point of order today his own worry that the breach would lead to restrictions on the long-held right of the public to attend such sessions.
The Speaker was slightly ominous in his reply, refusing to rule out tighter restrictions:
"That right to attend meetings is a very long established and precious freedom. I think it would be quite wrong for me to seek to constrain or circumscribe an independent investigation in what it can cover and what it can recommend. The point the Hon Gentleman makes is an important one...many people will share his point of view."
After a few years ago, the House had to spend a large amount of money erecting a glass screen that now prevents the public from actually viewing the chamber directly. (It still didn't stop the Fathers for Justice lobbing purple haze at TBlair)
It would be a great shame for the mood and feel of select committees if the voters were barred because of the actions of one foam hacker.
FOOTNOTE:* It's Gobby, not Dobby, by the way. Then again, some of this has a Harry Potter ring to it: "Bad Gobby, Bad Gobby..."
UPDATE: Blimey, this blog has more influence than I thought. A Twitter campaign of #saveGobby has now been launched, with the backing of @andyburnhammp, @edballsmp and even @SallyBercow.
#saveGobby is now trending third in the UK
LATE UPDATE: Well, the power of Twitter has proved itself. Gobby has had his pass restored, as has PA reporter Theo Usherwood. This came after Louise Mensch raised the matter on a point of order in the debate.
As she put it: "I hope that the House will agree with me that it's appropriate that we support freedom of the press, particularly when the press are reporting on serious failures of security in this House."
The Speaker then decided to take action.
A spokeswoman for the Speaker said: "The circumstances in which the breaches of the regulations took place were unprecedented and unpredicted.
"We have had assurances from all the journalists concerned that they will respect the filming regulations in future and the Speaker feels that no useful purpose will be served by the withdrawal of these passes."
I'm pretty sure that kind of plain common sense would never have prevailed under Mr Bercow's predecessor, who famously loathed the press.
Stuart B
Assuming that this guy had a paper plate ,a can of aerosol cream and then time to cover the plate in the cream how the heck did he firstly manage to get the stuff in and also have time to assemble the "pie"
PA Lobby
...and one of PA's reporters has had his Lobby pass withdrawn today for the same offence, anyone know the name?
Sue Mason
well maybe Police security people should also be banned for failing to do their job in protecting the chamber.
Barry
Management Policy. If we fail; we will bring in more regulation and diadvantage to those we can control. The failure will not affect any of our management team or employees.
Frank
"After the loony Fathers for Justice crew lobbed purple powder at T Blair years ago" What's "loony" about wanting to see your kids? Cameron's sexist father's day rant this years shows just how much Fathers 4 Justice are needed. The way F4J target both Tory and Labour MPs shows them to be far mroe credible than many such campaign groups. If men and fathers hadn't been totally ignored and denied representation for the last 30 years then such extreme protests wouldn't be necessary. Fathers 4 Justice is arguably the most important civil rights movement of this century and they conduct themselves in not only a peacefully manner but also with a fantastic sense of humour.
Trevors Den
Cobblers - Cameron talked about fathers running away, not fathers being excluded.
Toss pot pillock .
Assaulting people is - wait for it - an assault.
i suspect mr waugh as about as much influence as a fart in a bathtub
Frank
"Cameron talked about fathers running away, not fathers being excluded."
And that's sums up the problem perfectly. He implied it was fathers running away that was the only issue, ignoring the fact so many such supposedly deadbeat dads were in fact being excluded by the mother.
It was a terrible rant, and the fact he chose to come up with such nonsense on Father's Day suggests he's the loopy one.
Graham Jones
So, let me get this right....a man is allowed in with a shopping bag of stuff...(first mistake)....he is then allowed to take out that stuff and assemble it into something else, unchallenged...(second mistake)....then he is allowed to get up out of his seat and wander to the front, unchallenged...(third mistake)....and then the person who helped bring this to our attention gets punished....???? Eh? say that again? You're joking, yes?
Ron
" . . .the man known universally as Gobby." Er, the HoC isn't the universe. Yep, really.
Morgan Smith
Well, restricting press access is one way to make sure no one tries to emulate the Guardian and et to the bottom of messes like these in the future, isn't it?
jeff moore
paul was one of the people along with photographers and Reuters who were trying to get and media pen set up for yesterday. the sergeant at arms and the met police didn't want to know. So what did the sergeant at arms do. allow all those turning up to sneak in in cars with blacked out windows driving like mad men. while the police tried to stop us from getting pictures. We must have the only democracy in the world where the media have no access to the seat of government. Only at couple of months ago (the Sargent at arms) tried to have myself and 3 other photographers arrested ! what terrible crime did we commit . trying to take a picture of Osborne outside portcullis house.hanging offence! If we are going to enter a new era honest journalism perhaps we could have more open and democrated acess to the seat of power.
Fred Mannheim
If they intend to do an investigation, then they should look into the possibility that this event was staged as a means to elicit sympathy for the Murdochs. It might do to find out if mr. marbles' services were not in fact paid for. Paranoid, Suspicious, maybe, but given it's the Murdochs I would not at all be surprised to find they had a hand in it.
Shamik Das
Great piece! But wasn't the screen installed precisely because of the attack on Tone?!
Audio Amplifier
It is obvious that your thoughts reflect a lot of other people’s opinions also. I take pleasure in analyzing your posts each morning.