Who scooped the Hoon – Hewitt plot?


by Sunny Hundal    
8:28 am - January 7th 2010

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Who actually broke the story that Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon were planning to rebel against Gordon Brown? Sure, it’s not a big issue but I’m interested in it as a matter of record.

Rumours last night that Tessa Jowell was planning to leave were of course unfounded. So go to the real names first?

It did look like the first person to have tweeted it was Andrew Sparrow at the Guardian. But it doesn’t list the exact time.

Guido Fawkes claims he was not long after that, but actually he was third in line.

By 12:17pm James Macintyre at the New Statesman had published the story on his blog, before the Guardian did.

The New Statesman tweeted it immediately too.

So even if Andrew tweeted it first, he wrote the story after. James on the other hand wrote the story first and then tweeted it.

So it looks like the New Statesman’s James Macintyre got that scoop, and Guido’s inference that he was second is wrong.

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments


1. Halloway

I first read about it on Popbitch, if that’s any help.

2. Lucy Thorpe

What if the BBC got it first and just held onto it ? It’s not the law to tweet your scoops is it ?

3. Alisdair Cameron

It’s not exactly Woodward and Bernstein is it?

4. The Orator

Who cares who broke it? Or is this just another bit of Sunny H’s rather overcast attitude to all things Guido?

5. Hermeneuticals

A good question Sunny.

I saw it come up on the BBC website without a pic. and w/ a broken link. I realized it was breaking so I googled it. The only hit was on Yahoo News sourcing to Reuters.

I think who broke it is very significant.

6. Daniel Hoffmann-Gill

I’m with Hermeneutical in that it does matter, as a matter of interest and curiosity as to who was ‘chosen’ as a device to share the story, that surely is of some significance.

So why the New Statesmen?

Any ideas?

7. Pace

So why the New Statesmen?

Any ideas?

‘cos if the plotters had chosen the Spectator, the PLP would have thought it was a wind-up.

If they’d chosen the Guardian, they’d have thought it was a misprint.

The Mail, a lie.

The Sun, a bigger lie.

etc etc

8. Nina

The answer to questions like ‘why the New Statesman’ usually comes down to personal contacts doesn’t it?


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. House Of Twits

    RT @libcon :: Who scooped the Hoon – Hewitt plot against Brown? http://bit.ly/5e0U2s

  2. Liberal Conspiracy

    :: Who scooped the Hoon – Hewitt plot against Brown? http://bit.ly/5e0U2s

  3. Tweets that mention Liberal Conspiracy » Who scooped the Hoon – Hewitt plot against Brown? -- Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Liberal Conspiracy, House Of Twits. House Of Twits said: RT @libcon :: Who scooped the Hoon – Hewitt plot against Brown? http://bit.ly/5e0U2s [...]

  4. sunny hundal

    @CharlieBeckett Hi Charlie – think you missed a few things out there: http://bit.ly/5e0U2s

  5. Charlie Beckett, POLIS Director » Blog Archive » Snow storm political reporting

    [...] Andrew Sparrow ,who as far as I can judge, was the first to have the story. [Although there are other candidates for that honour]And then, of course, there was Twitter and the various blogs and political [...]

  6. The strangeness of Geoff Hoon « Raincoat Optimism

    [...] 5. Discussions abound on who scooped. [...]

  7. Black Ice vs Car | Sweaty Gooch

    [...] Who scooped the Hoon – Hewitt plot against Brown? (liberalconspiracy.org) [...]





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