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Tory candidate was bow-tie wearing presenter

  • Michael Crick
  • 4 Jun 08, 06:02 PM

howell203.jpgI see that the Conservative candidate in the Henley by-election, John Howell, is describing himself on his early campaign literature as "Previously a presenter for 大象传媒 World Service".

My 大象传媒 World colleagues here at Millbank had never heard of him, but they made a few enquiries and it turns out that Mr Howell was a business presenter on 大象传媒 World around 1994 and 1995.

The most remarkable feature of his presenting work, apparently, was that he used to wear a bow-tie. Click to see him on 大象传媒 Breakfast News.

It looks like the Tory campaign will be something of an ex-大象传媒 operation. Apart from John Howell the Conservative campaign is being run by senior Shadow Cabinet member Chris Grayling, who spent many years working in 大象传媒 news.

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I'm sorry if anyone - including the candidate - found my comments unfair, one of the hazards of blogging. I've removed the offending passage.

Personally I have no idea if John Howell was a good presenter or not perhaps the best thing to do is to delve into the 大象传媒 archives and find a clip of him of at work - click .

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Without being disrespectful to anyone's work, it is disappointing to see fairly pointless pieces like this finding a home on the page, when what I feel to be interesting and provocative suggestions/comments are put forward everyday by viewers/posters, largely without apparent interest.
    Anyway, I don't know the tories' majority in Henley. Am I right to assume they're a shoe-in, whatever Mr. Howell's efforts? Best from grumpy-jon

  • Comment number 2.

    TORIES ARE DULL - OFFICIAL

    It was revealed by 大象传媒 today. Also have some polish (best) friends shock.

  • Comment number 3.

    Tories dull? Boris Johnson: need I say more?

  • Comment number 4.

    This comment is greviously unfair to Mr Howell, whom I have not heard of. I am not a Tory, but for one 大象传媒 employee to provide hearsay that is potentially derogatory about a former colleague seems unfair, unprofessional and possibly unethical. I thought the 大象传媒 had a Human Resources Department whose job it would be to issue References for past employees.

    Separately I look forward to Newsnight's usually excellent coverage of the US elections and the segment on the 大象传媒 treatment of Polish nationals which, I must confess, I had not discerned.

  • Comment number 5.

    The way the 大象传媒 presents the news you would think it was 'cleared' by Tory party central office anyway.

  • Comment number 6.

    May we know who wrote this spiteful little piece and who the insider is at 大象传媒 World ? Their colleagues and acquaintances may like the opportunity to pass judgment on their characters. Unless of course they're snivelling cowards aswell as spiteful in which case they'll no doubt prefer the mask of anonymity

  • Comment number 7.

    I assume Michael Crick is writing and he's not trying to be anonymous, but the web team forgot to by-line him.

    More 'spiteful little pieces' please.

  • Comment number 8.

    "Of course that's not Newsnight's opinion, look it's in quotation marks", said a senior, well-respected source.

  • Comment number 9.

    Michael can I go off subject slightly and with apologies to the posters.

    Is the Labour Party financial situation serious or not (to pay for the campaigns etc)? First I heard they were in the doo doo; then they themselves claimed they were rolling in it etc.

    What is the news regarding the Labour General Secretary? Last I heard was that some investment banker gave it up because he was afraid of liability.

    Finally I assume the legal process is not impaired if we were updated about the funding investigation - Abrahams and all?

  • Comment number 10.

    It's interesting to see the links between the 大象传媒 and political parties. The has a very interesting list of people who have worked in politics and then the 大象传媒 and vice versa and back again. Here is a brief selection:
    Phil Woolas is Labour MP for Oldham and Saddleworth and Minister for the Environment 1988 - 1990 he was a producer on the 大象传媒 Newsnight Programme.
    Chris Bryant is Labour MP for Rhondda, joined the 大象传媒 in 1998 as Head of European Affairs
    Martin Sixsmith - 大象传媒 Foreign Correspondent 1980 - 1997 Following the 1997 election he left the 大象传媒 to work for the Labour government as Director of Communications.
    Joy Johnson - 大象传媒 Political News Editor 1992 - 1995. In 1995 she was recruited by Gordon Brown to join New Labour as Campaigns Director, responsible for winning Labour's 80 target seats.
    Celia Barlow is Labour MP for Hove. Between 1983 and 1995 she was a Westminster reporter and finally Home News Editor at the 大象传媒. Her husband Sam Jaffa was 大象传媒 North America Correspondent. He stood as Labour candidate for Eastleigh in 2001.
    James Purnell, Work and Pensions Minister. Before become a Downing Street adviser in 1997 he was 大象传媒 Head of Corporate Planning.
    Lance Price - 大象传媒 Journalist 1981 - 1998. In 2000 he became the Labour Party's Director of Communications.
    Ed Richards - Ex 大象传媒 Controller of Corporate Strategy. He left the 大象传媒 in 1999 to become Tony Blair's senior policy adviser on media, telecoms, internet and e-government.
    Greg Dyke - 大象传媒 Director General 2000-2004. In 1977 he stood as a Labour candidate for the Greater London Council.
    Gavin Davies - 大象传媒 Chairman 2001 - 2004. From 1992 to 1997 he was an adviser to Gordon Brown
    Sir Michael Lyons - Current 大象传媒 Chairman. He was a Labour local politician, sitting as a Labour councillor in several authorities and as Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council. In 2004 he was asked whether he was still a Labour Party member - but declined to answer.

    The full list is here:
    Makes you view the 大象传媒 in a completely different light, doesn't it?

  • Comment number 11.

    Michael,

    Have you got anything against bow ties?

    c.

  • Comment number 12.

    Michael,

    I feel that it is a pity that you are forced to retract what was clearly a light-hearted observation on Mr Howell lack of impact at the 大象传媒.

    Showing a political bias in your blog should be grounds for retraction, showing a sense of humor should be encouraged.

  • Comment number 13.

    I always thought bow tie wearing shows a certain quirkiness and independence of spirit. Nice to have a potential MP who isn't simply a conformist clone.

  • Comment number 14.

    He's just the image of Michael Crick with hair !

    Pantsman

  • Comment number 15.

    Michael, he does look very much like you!

  • Comment number 16.

    10. At 2:39 pm on 05 Jun 2008, ClownsRunTheTowns
    This comment has been referred to the moderators. Explain.

    How long does it take for the moderators to look at a post? Why is it taking longer than 2 days to pass through moderation? Does it get sent to them via carrier pigeon? Even delays at Terminal 5 don't last this long!

  • Comment number 17.

    Well given they are running stories 11 years old I wouldn't hold my breath !!

  • Comment number 18.

    I was moved to join the Newsnight blog system because of my irritation at the rather childish tone of the Caroline Spelman reportage.

    The notion that the nanny/secretary in question would be able to furnish full details of her duties eleven years ago is patently absurd:- I couldn't do that myself and I doubt if anyone else, other a nerd of some kind, would be able to do it either. It also seemed to me to be nerdish to stretch the permissible parameters of an MP's parliamentary staff allowance to a quite absurd degree. Again, it would seem to be highly unlikely that a secretary, especially one employed in a residential capacity, would not engage in family activities:- indeed, when I was a civil servant, my admin officer undertook a variety of domestic tasks for me - shopping, orgainising car services etc - when I went through a stressful time due to my wife being seriously ill.

    So why was the story run ? Particularly as truly serious and quite obscene examples of inappropriate spending of public money are seen every day, when one opens the morning newspaper.

    And then I remembered the Ian Duncan Smith story. That too, began, with po-faced claims of malfeasance and yet, when the full story came out, it was evident that this decent man and his wife had been pilloried for no good purpose.

    And then we have the latest non-story. The Tory candidate for the Henly bye-election, whose crimes against humanity are that, (a) someone at the 大象传媒 didn't much like him when he worked there for a short time a few years ago and (b) that he used to wear a bow tie.

    Now I'm not sure what one calls such reports, or the state of mind of the reporter concerned:- but they ain't good journalism.

  • Comment number 19.

    Re #16.
    11th June and you're still being moderated, Clowns. R R R Respect.You've obviously been a very naughty boy or girl. Have you looked out in the street to see if there's a white van full of agents monitoring your calls?

  • Comment number 20.

    Number 10

    Surely there are a lot of people within the tory party who also work for the 大象传媒 as well. Chris Grayling springs to mind. And not forgetting that the 大象传媒 Political editor used to be chairman of the young conservatives, and Andrew Neil- probably one of the most politically biased people on the 大象传媒- a staunch Thatcherite.

    There is an argument that can be made that the 大象传媒 is biased to one side or the other- surely we just have to accept that people who want to work in this industry, like the rest of us, have opinions, but if the 大象传媒 has a range of views, and tries to look at issues fairly, and as objectively as possible, I don't see a problem.

  • Comment number 21.

    Millbank centre???

    what is it?

    part of the bbc and when?

  • Comment number 22.

    It is nice to see someone wearing a bow-tie.

 

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