Mehdi Hasan, the New Statesman’s Senior Editor (Politics) has a scoop! An exclusive interview with Lord Paul about the expenses scandal:
Exclusive: Lord Paul responds to official report recommending his suspension
…
In the last few minutes, I have been speaking to Lord Paul to get his response to the committee’s conclusions. He said:
I welcome the publication of the report from the House of Lords Committee for Privileges and Conduct. First and foremost…
So excited was Mehdi about his exclusive, that the New Statesman sent out a press release to boast about it:
Top stuff. Granted, the interview is a bit of a hagiography, a puff piece with interjections from the great political interviewer such as this:
This is madness. Have officials in the House of Lords lost their minds?
And on what grounds have they gone after Paul, Uddin and Bhatia and ignored or excused the false/inaccurate/dodgy claims of dozens of other peers uncovered in the press?
Still, an exclusive is an exclusive. Well done Mehdi Hasan!
But wait – what is this?
Pretty much the same text as appears in Mehdi Hasan’s “exclusive” interview also appears on the Birmingham Post’s blog.
Where, slightly more honestly, this press release is described in the following terms:
Statement from Lord Paul on the publication of the Report by the House of Lords Committee for Privileges and Conduct, 18 October 2010
I welcome the publication of the report from the House of Lords Committee for Privileges and Conduct. First and foremost…
Silly Mehdi! He must think that we are people of no intelligence.
In other press release news:
Hat tip: Guido
UPDATE
… and indeed, Matthew Taylor who spotted it!
