Andrew McCann has written of his attempts to put his views across to the Beeb over Sweenygate. I am referring, of course, to the bullying, hectoring behaviour (caution, highly entertaining stuff) of the BBC’s fearless sleuth, John Sweeney, as he ventured into the deep hidden danger facing us all from Tom Cruise’s religion, Scientology. McCann’s words are well worth reading. Summary account of the incident here.
He points out the BBC’s complacent reliance on the freedoms accorded them in the US and UK. He demonstrates what true objectivity might mean- the fearlessly equal treatment of all on an equal basis. His analogy was the most obvious one going- between the BBC’s treatment of Scientology and its treatment of Islam- but the point is a deep one.
Talking of his approach to the BBC’s phone-in minders he says:
“I posed a rhetorical question as to whether Sweeney would have lost his temper if treated in the same way by Muslims outside the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. In other words, would Sweeney have behaved that way had it not been for his own prejudices and the environment in which he found himself?”
Indeed. PS. I notice that Sweeney has done investigations in Saudi Arabia, but one does indeed wonder if he treated the Saudis as imbeciles as he did so, or whether it was their religion he was interested in targeting.
This whole narration about the Middle East presented by the MSM is woefully out of sink.
There are FOUR wars and counting in Iraq and I dread to think what on earth is going on inside Gaza.
There has never been and never will be ‘unity’ for a rump that left Israel and has wage its war for god knows how many years.
PLO (FAHTAH), PLPF, HAMAS, Black September-the word ‘Palestinian’ is now twinned with death.
I would be great Tim if you can share some thoughts on Iraq-The whole mess reminds me of one giant Northern Ireland judging by what Urban was saying…
May 16, 2007
“The war against the west”
http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1518
.
“Well IiD, chlorine is a very common chemical used in industry.”
Indeed-first of the chemical weapons used in World War One-until the invention of mustard gas. The Japanese found it very useful when clearing out cellars during the rape of Nanking, and. I’m sure the victims of the Anfal offensive by Saddam would be please to know that the thing that turned there lungs to mush was used in cleaning swimming pools.
Equally anthrax is often found in labs that carry out animal research on cattle disease-all legitimate as well as Foot and Mouth or Botulism.
I don’t know about you-but chemical and biological weapons aren’t rocket science-cheap easy to hid-devastating when used in an Iraqi village or the London Underground.
Poor man Nukes somebody said I think I recall.
Unless of course you had some James Bond type mental picture that the BBC placed in your heads? All that “45 minute” games and all that….
Does anybody see the irony?
Quite right, Anonymous.
Let’s make a stand on the Rev “Dr” Falwell’s behalf. After all, he was the man who spotted the BBC’s abomination before (almost) anyone else.
Who can forget his devastating analysis of the Teletubbies, a poison poured from Shepherds Bush straight into the eyeballs of our nation’s young?
“He is purple — the gay pride color, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle — the gay pride symbol,” wrote “Dr” Jerry.
Let us proclaim our shame that the UK fails to produce pastors of that calibre. (And we all know the BBC would refuse to broadcast them, amyway).
My only – tiny – concern is that he might have had just a hint of an “impenetrable regional accent”, such as dismays the B-BBC readership.
Together with Paxmann’s comments last night “On Royalty” (see above posts), the BBCs Newsnight team are a right little nest of Republicans.
The BBC is so tainted these days they are probably incapable of understanding the meaning of “bias”
FROM GAVIN ESLER
————————————————————
Hello,
In tonight’s programme:
Prince Harry NOT to serve in Iraq
Is this a victory for Al Qaeda and its threats? What kind of message does this send to our troops – spilling their blood is fine but not blue blood.
BBC TV News is rapidly turning into a reality show complete with luvie-land overtones. Apart from the all encompassing use of forenames prevalant throughout the BBC, check “JOSE Murinho” the apparent attempts to get people to break down in front of the camera is cynical and disturbing. I feel for the editor who cannot get the Portugal “suspect” on screen because of the “teribbly harsh restrictiins” Terrible appears to be the new buzz word. There was the nauseating reference tonight to the “terrible murder” in Japan. All murders are “terrible” Why is the one is Japan more so? Could be because the victim was a single female? Shades of SEXISM here. The there is the line..”and Japanese Police have still not captured the suspect” Shades of RACISM here. What is the BBC thinking of? Secure behind their Kremlin walls at Broadcasting House the are rapidly exposing more of their prejudices to the world public. Ah Hem! sorry to bring this up, but have you noticied the distinct LACK of ANTI-JEWISH propaganda since “one of their own” was abducted in Gaza? How “terrible” is that?
Message to BOYD HUNT
I am 4 minutes into that video. Please could you create a little compendium of all the BBCs most anti-semetic bollocks. K thx bye
The Carolyn Quinn/Andrew Phillips interview from this morning’s Today.
Actually the fact the BBC covered rather than ignored Jerusalem Day is a plus. All the pictures come from AFP or AP. I wonder why? Is this a sign that the BBC doesn’t have any photographers on the ground?
In pictures: Jerusalem Day
Picture One. Who are these people in ethnic costumes?
BBC caption: People across Israel are celebrating Jerusalem Day, commemorating Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.
Jerusalem Municipality version: Jerusalem Day commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, following the division of the city between 1948 and 1967.
Still by BBC standards could have been much worse.
Carolyn Quinn introduces Phillips thus: “Solicitor and philanthropist Lord Phillips has just returned from a trip to Gaza. He believes he is the most senior parliamentarian to have met the Hamas Prime Minister.” Last year he announced his retirement from the second chamber and demanded that he be known as plain old “Mr” once again. Clearly he is not too proud to play the title card when it suits him.
(“Just call me Mister” – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=Y3TBXNDEVGVO1QFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/07/27/npeer27.xml )
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6660665.stm
Check out the story above about the wonderful French healthcare system. Read the article and you think its all about money. What is relevant and the article doesn’t say is that France’s healthcare system is part state/part individual funded (however to point that out would contravene the state good/private ethos of the BBC).
In actual fact France ain’t the best at uptake of new cancer drugs
You can see who’s top of the list in this article
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_headline=worst-for-new-cancer-drugs&method=full&objectid=19075598&siteid=89520-name_page.html
Of course its the Big Bad Yanks. Now why didn’t the BBC do an article on how effective the US healthcare system is I wonder?
Ultrav: hang on a minute – who exactly is “the enemy” here? remember, Hillhunt’s “3 muslim friends” hold Iraq as a “grievance” against the UK, If said grievance isn’t “addressed”, they might have to resort to the bomb (as one does)…
“‘Secrets leak’ policeman charged”
A Metropolitan Police officer has been charged with leaking security-related information to a newspaper.
Thomas Lund-Lack, 59, based at New Scotland Yard, was charged on two counts under the Official Secrets Act.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6663855.stm
I’m suprised the BBC haven’t mentioned that Mr. Lund-Lack is no ordinary copper.
“Tom Lund-Lack, an expert on Islamist Terrorism at the Met, spoke on vital differences between terrorist groups like the Provisional IRA and al-Qaeda”
http://sikhvoiceuk.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-are-we-sikh-working-for-rss-in-uk.html”
“”Iraq is the biggest terrorist recruitment officer there is, and all the tactics learned in Iraq will soon make their way over to this country.” Tom Lund-Lack of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter-Terrorism Command; quoted in The New Statesman, 9th April 2007″
http://apocalypsetimes.blogspot.com/
The BBC and Not the Nine O’clock news
Locals turn on Taliban as civilians die in strikes
GIRISHK, Afghanistan — The British commander’s apology for a bombing raid in which more than 20 civilians were killed was depressingly familiar; heartfelt as it was, there have been too many such incidents.
But when Brig. John Lorimer went on to accuse the Taliban of hiding among civilians and putting them at risk with “cowardly action against your people,” an interesting thing happened: Dozens of Afghan men nodded in agreement. The exchange, suggesting progress in the vital battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan public, took place late last week at a jirga, an assembly, with several hundred men, many of them with Taliban sympathies.
Brig. Lorimer, who commands British forces in Helmand, Afghanistan’s most troubled province, set the tone for the outdoor meeting with his sincere statement of remorse for a bombing raid two days earlier in which, by Afghan count, 21 civilians were killed. It was at least the third incident in recent weeks in which Afghan civilians were accidentally killed by NATO allies and coalition troops. U.S. officers have apologized for the losses, but often belatedly and only after the Afghan government has lashed out at NATO with accusations of negligence and overkill. “I promise you there will be an end to these civilian casualties,” said Helmand’s governor, Assadullah Wafa, who also attended the jirga. “The NATO troops won’t repeat these actions.” But there is rising evidence that the Afghan public is as angry with the Taliban for such deaths as they are with NATO. Days after the May 8 air strike, Afghan village leaders killed a Taliban commander and two bodyguards near the site of the U.S. bombing raid because he refused to move his operations out of their neighborhood, according to both local Afghans and Western officials.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20070515-101412-4409r.htm
Another massive barrage of rockets came crashing down on this terrified border town, threatening to provoke a massive Israeli ground offensive in Gaza 20 months after Israeli troops withdrew from the coastal strip.The attack came a day after the rockets injured five residents, including a mother and her children. Several homes have been destroyed along with any remnant of a sense of security. More than 20 rockets were fired on Sderot Wednesday, injuring two people, including a woman who was seriously wounded after suffering a direct hit on her home.
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/16-05-2007/91600-bombing-0
Israel is ready to help Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as his Fatah faction battles Hamas Islamists in Gaza, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said on Wednesday.At a news conference after a meeting with Estonia’s prime minister, Peres said Israel would not intervene directly in hostilities but would respond to specific requests from Abbas.”We should help Mr. Abbas in his fight against the terrorists,” he said in answer to reporter questions. Asked about possible direct measures, Peres said: “We can only respond to Mr. Abbas’s requests for help. We will not intervene in the war itself but if Mr. Abbas will request specific help, we will supply (it).”
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?rpc=401&storyId=L16564546
“Governments should tax plasma screen televisions because of the large amount of energy they consume, according to a leading expert on climate change. ”
“Professor Paul Ekins, who studies the economics of climate change, said taxing plasma screens would reflect their “greater climate change burden”. ”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6654301.stm
So he is not an expert on climate change – he is an economist.
Paul Ekins
“Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London University, 1968-1971, B.Sc. (Eng) in electrical engineering
Birkbeck College, University of London, 1985-1988, M.Sc. (Econ) in economics
University of Bradford, 1987-1990, M.Phil. (Peace Studies)
Birkbeck College, University of London, 1990-1996, Ph.D. in Economics”
http://www.psi.org.uk/people/person.asp?person_id=29
Can someone please point out to the BBC (who were quick enough to get Cpl Keys’s dad on yet again to slag off Harry etc….)
Harry ain’t going because if he does he will cause others to die. It is not about protecting Harry it is about protecting his troops and those nearby! Why don’t the BBC make this simple yet pertinent point?
University of Bradford, 1987-1990, M.Phil. (Peace Studies)
ROFL
And way off topic – Alex Smug Git Salmond was elected as First Minister in Edinburgh today. So why weren’t the top political media experts pushing him about why he won’t resign as an MP? The people of Banff and Buchan have an MP who is now First Minister and running Scotland, holding MSP clinics in Gordon (next door to them) and so on. He is allegedly not taking a full MP wage as he now gets MSP/First Minister dosh etc but surely the people of Banff and Buchan deserve a fulltime MP? Or does he expect to get kicked out within a year from Edinburgh?
Yet another question the BBC and others refuse to ask…..
Birkbeck College, University of London, 1990-1996, Ph.D. in Economics”
SIX years to do a PhD? Bloody hell!
Hillhunt | 16.05.07 – 6:24 pm
Since you might be new to B-BBC (I don’t recall seeing your interminable impenetrable regional accent claptrap before), it is common around here to point out who gets a “Send us your tributes” or “Send us your comments/reaction” from al-Beeb at the passing of some notable.
So, a figure who uttered controversial statements after 9/11 = “comments”
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=6319&sortBy=1&edition=1&ttl=20070516215136
Another figure who uttered controversial statements after 9/11 = “tributes”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/4131011.stm
What makes it on-topic for this blog is that it is perfectly clear which side of the ideological divide gets what label from the beeboids.
The busy little bees on the BBC website are up to their caption writing tricks, yet again presenting Palestinians as the blameless victims:
At least 17 people are killed as violence worsens in Gaza, with factional fighting and Israeli air strikes.
The added bonus here, of course, is that Israel is made to look like it is climbing in and taking advantage of the chaos to kill Palestinians.
The BBC is immensely proud of its neat little News home page.
So just it wouldn’t do to spoil it by revealing that the Israeli air strikes were in response to the murderous Kassam assault by Hamas on Israeli civilians in Sderot.
One wonders what the Palestinians actually have to do to elicit the slightest murmur of dissent from within the BBC ranks.
Hell, they can even abduct the prime Gaza propagandist and the BBC will remain cheerfully polite and uncomplaining. When it comes to the Palestinians, the BBC is completely without backbone. I guess it knows who its masters are.
Forgot the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
“SIX years to do a PhD? Bloody hell!”
I expect economics is a bit more demanding than “Peace Studies”.
Another thing the BBC do not tell you about “climate expert” Paul Ekins.
“Paul Ekins is a prominent academic in the field of sustainable economics. He is a former member of the Green party.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ekins
Anonymous:
You’re so right about tributes v comments.
I just wanted to add my tribute to “Dr” Falwell, and also to point out an omission in my quote above.
When I quoted “Dr” Jerry’s remarks that: “He is purple — the gay pride color, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle — the gay pride symbol,” I may have given the impression that “Dr” Jerry was talking about all the Teletubbies.
As I’m sure most of you spotted, he was, in fact, concentrating his spiritual fire on Tinkwinky. I do hope this lack of clarity did not spoil my earlier tribute.
I have also learned that “Dr” Falwell did indeed have one of those “impenetrable regional accents” which so distress readers of B-BBC, but I hope, in our loss, readers won’t hold it against him.
By the way, did anyone notice the way the BBC pushed out the editor of Blue Peter under cover of the national mourning for “Dr” Falwell?
BP is the flagship of BBC Children’s department, which just happened to give birth to those gurning undercover pansies, the Teletubbies.
Proof that the good “Dr” was bang on in spotlighting the threat from Tinkywinky? I think you’re ahead of me on this one…
Rumour also has it that the wretched editor, Richard Marson, was considered unsuitable for high office because he had a nice accent.
AS keen readers know, the BBC likes to upset us by hiring people with “impenetrable regional accents”.
“AS keen readers know, the BBC likes to upset us by hiring people with “impenetrable regional accents”.”
Give it a rest!!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=455306&in_page_id=1770
Hillhunt
Trolling over for today.
You should be in bed.
Where you can dream of inpenetration or something like that.
Hard day at school tomorrow.
Have you done your homework, remember how hard it is to get through double maths if you haven’t.
Hill*unt may have a point about ‘impenetrable regional accents.’
See my above link.
‘Biased Broadcasting Corporation’ is Blasted by Former CBI Chief Digby Jones’
Apologies if anyone spotted this earlier.
‘Regional accents are also damaging the high standards of the institution, he added.’
Elbow:
Thank God someone’s following us on the party line. Hearty congrats for pointing us all to Sir Digby Jones’s devastating critique.
I’m sure you spotted the point which will put Jon (above) to shame:
Sir Digby digs in with a top-drawer analysis of recent rugby commentaries “spoken in an accent with which only the few can identify and sometimes even understand.”
It’s heaven to be alive on the day such an entrepreneurial genius locks step with B-BBC’s most meaningful campaign.
What do we want? An end to “impenetrable regional accents”. When do we want it? Now!
Oh cram it will you?
Hill*unt blathered…
“It’s heaven to be alive on the day such an entrepreneurial genius locks step with B-BBC’s most meaningful campaign.”
So…he’s joining the bandwagon about BBC’s biased output?
(Video) Remembering Saddam’s Iraq (YouTube)
“It’s just too bad that the world never gave a damn about Iraqis before America got involved”.
Via
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
“I’m sure you spotted the point which will put Jon (above) to shame:”
The use of regional accents by the BBC is neither here nor there its the content that matters – I would not attack anyone just becuase they have a regional accent. I have known very intelligent people with a stammer but I would not critisise them for that.
You can talk in a perfect received pronunciation but if they talk rubbish its still rubbish.
Reaching out to “tolerant Muslims”. Understanding their “grievances” so we can get to the “root causes” Islamist terrorism.
Yeah, right.
Pakistan Christians demand help
“But the presence of large numbers of British journalists on the ground – literally, in the case of the street outside the McCann’s holiday apartment – was clearly instrumental in prodding locals into more activity.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6663289.stm
I doubt this “media circus” helps anyone. The media are just a pack of vultures who are probably hindering investigations and intruding on peoples grief.
Another photo of the home of Fatah security chief Rashid Abu Shbak. Remember these are the people who complain they’re starving because of the aid boycott, and of course the “occupation”:
photo nº5 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6662577.stm
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42932000/jpg/_42932995_shbak_ap.jpg
“An elderly Israeli woman was badly wounded today by rockets fired from Gaza on the Israeli Negev town of Sderot. On Tuesday, 24 rockets hit Israel and wounded 30 people.
Throughout today, 21 Kassams were fired at Israel. Sderot has been repeatedly hit. Virtually none of this has been reported in the British media; the few references there have been have been made only as an afterthought to the reporting of Israel’s air raids against Hamas targets in the last couple of days.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel’s government has now decided to respond in a ‘harsh and severe’ manner. You can guarantee that this will now be heavily reported by the British media, conveying once again the entirely false impression that Israel is behaving with wanton aggression.
Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Palestinian terrorists have fired more than 1,300 rockets into Israel. Even while they are tearing themselves apart — at least 17 Palestinians are reported to have been killed in Gaza in fighting between Fatah and Hamas —they can still find the means to bombard Israel. In the circumstances, Israel’s self-restraint has been truly bizarre.
No other country would have experienced such sustained rocket attack for so long and do virtually nothing in response.
No other country in the world is expected in such circumstances to respond to such acts of war by turning the other cheek. Only the Jewish state.
http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1519
Today’s Daily Mail:
‘Biased Broadcasting Corporation’ is blasted by former CBI chief Digby Jones
Sir Digby Jones, the former director of the CBI, has launched an impassioned attack on the “insidious” decline of the BBC. He claimed its sports coverage is often biased, its grammatical standards are slipping and its trustworthiness is in question.
Er, so what about it’s news coverage then?
Hillhunt | 16.05.07 – 4:41 pm
I particularly like the leader in the journal of Chartered Institute of Journalists (funny how little we hear of the CIOJ, and how sad, too) which reads: “I cannot say whether Jonathan Boyd Hunt’s allegations are true.”
Er, being a bit selective here aren’t we? How about:
‘A marvellous antidote to the Guardian version of events… I am willing to declare here and now that I am far more inclined to believe Jonathan Hunt’s explanation in ‘Trial’ than the ‘evidence’, such as it is, offered up by Fayed and, indeed, the Guardian.’
(Andy Smith, The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Journalists, 01/02 2003)
With such Reith-like misrepresentation it’s seems clear you also work for the BBC. (But if you don’t you should be able to get a job instantly just by showing your posts here)
From Opinionjournal
News by Stereotype–I http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6659585.stm
In his Sept. 11, 2000, column the late Bob Bartley
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/rbartley/?id=65000251 argued that the
press tends to deal in stereotypes, which arise “out of a tension between the
ideal of objectivity and the reality of a liberal background and environment.”
We were reminded of this observation when we saw a piece posted on the BBC Web
site yesterday, which exemplifies just how blind journalists can be to their own
prejudices–even when the stories they are reporting run counter to those
prejudices.
The headline: “US Detainee ‘Mentally Tortured.’ ” The lead paragraph:
*** QUOTE ***
A Pakistani-born US resident detained at Guantanamo Bay has said he was
“mentally tortured” there, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon.
*** END QUOTE ***
It is true that the detainee, Majid Khan, claims to have been “mentally
tortured.” It is also true that the press stereotypes Guantanamo as a place
where wicked Americans commit unspeakable atrocities against innocent
terrorists. But if you read the BBC story to the end, you discover that Khan’s
claims actually refute the press’s stereotype:
*** QUOTE ***
Mr Khan complained about how US guards had taken away pictures of his daughter,
given him new glasses with the wrong prescription, shaved his beard off,
forcibly fed him when he went on hunger strike, and denied him the opportunity
for recreation. . . .
Later, Mr Khan produced a list of further examples of psychological torture,
which included the provision of “cheap, branded, unscented soap,” the prison
newsletter, noisy fans and half-inflated balls in the recreation room that
“hardly bounce.”
*** END QUOTE ***
The poor dear has half-inflated balls! Oh, the humanity! None of the
inconveniences Khan describes even remotely qualify as torture, yet the Beeb
accepts his characterization at face value. The stereotype prevails even though
the facts make clear that it is false. This is journalism?
Ultraviolets | 16.05.07 – 6:51 pm
Brilliant news about the video. I don’t have that many articles with references to the Beeb’s anti-Israeli reporting in the headlines where its needed, but I guess there is indeed enough for a new folder. I’ll get on with compiling one now and upload it in an hour or so.
Thanks.
Come one Hill*unt, it has been – oooh – about eight hours since we had one of your stunningly witty posts. Your fan club breathlessly awaits your latest cutting piece of couter-argument, ruthlessly savaging the premise that the BBC is biased, cruelly proving, for instance, that James Naughtie actually said “When thee win the election…” It sounded like “we”, of course, but that’s down to his inpenetrable regional accent….
Without fail, go and listen to John “award winning BBC journalist” Humphrys trying to get the better of John Bolton on the Today programme, and failing miserably.
Go now, it won’t disappoint you, I promise. 8.45am.
Here is the link, at 8.40am.
Sorry, here at 8.40am:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/
Abandon ship, “controversial” John Bolton was splendid.
Funny how the BBC don’t feel the need to give any health warnings when announcing their Hamas guests. Something like “evil Dr. Hamas” ?
“A Communism for the 21st Century”
“The extreme Left didn’t succeed in staging a violent revolution in the West, so they decided to go for a permanent, structural revolution instead. They now hope that immigrants can provide raw material for a violent rebellion, especially since many of them are Muslims who have displayed such a wonderful talent for violence and destruction. The Western Left are importing a new proletariat, since the previous one disappointed them.
This is what is happening to the West today. Europe itself could become a failed continent by importing the problems of Africa and the Islamic world. The notion that everybody should be free to move anywhere they want to, and that preventing them from moving into your country is “racism, xenophobia and bigotry,” is the Communism of the 21st century. And it will probably lead to immense human suffering.
We must nip the ideology of transnational Multiculturalism and unlimited mass migration in the bud by exposing it for what it is: A Communism for the 21st century.”
More
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2125
Hillhunt | 16.05.07 – 3:53 pm
Still waiting for details about the imminent publication of Mr Boyd Hunt’s magnum opus on the Guardian/BBC criminal nexus.
Don’t hold your breath.
Not only has JBH failed to convince every reputable media organization in the UK, the ITV regulators and the High Court…..he has also put his case, over the heads of the media, directly to the electorate.
The people’s verdict was returned at six minutes past two on the morning of the 8th June 2001.
It went roughly like this:
Being the returning officer for the constituency of Tatton, I hereby declare that the votes cast for the various candidates in the parliamentary election ..were as follows:
Osborne, George……(stage whisper: ‘Conservative’)……19,860….
Conquest, Steve…….(stage whisper: ‘Labour’)……..11,249……..
Boyd Hunt, Jonathan…(stage whisper: ‘Raving Loony’)…….er, a miserable…..154.
Cue: popping of champagne bottles at Broadcasting House (- or is that another thread?)