CAROLYN SPIN

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Last night's Westminster Hour talked 'trouble for the Tories' again. That has been its main focus every week so far this year.
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Of Lord Ashcroft much was said. Of the army's row with Gordon Brown in the wake of his dodgy evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry, surely the far bigger story, there was not a single word. That shows where the programme's heart lies.
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As in a way does this: Two weeks ago the first Conservative-supporting all-seeing journalist appeared on the programme but, as I pointed out then, he was accompanied by a Lib Dem-supporting pollster - thus getting only half the time that the a-s-j usually gets. That was only the second time that the week's all-seeing journalist didn't have Carolyn Quinn all to himself. Last week, when the programme reported from the Conservative Spring Conference, Mr Forsyth of the Spectator returned, but again he was placed in tandem with a Torysceptic journalist, Jean Eaglesham of the FT. Last night thing returned to normal and Andrew Grice of The Indie was the a-s-j - and he shared Carolyn and the programmes' precious air-time with no-one!
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Here's that list again:
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7/3/10 Andrew Grice of the Independent
28/2/10 Jean Eaglesham of the Financial Times/James Forsyth of the Spectator
21/2/10 James Forsyth of the Spectator
14/2/10 Jean Eaglesham of the Financial Times
7/2/10 Nick Watt of the Guardian
31/1/10 George Parker of the Financial Times
24/1/10 Kevin Maguire of the Mirror
17/1/10 Andrew Grice of the Independent
10/1/10 Nick Watt of the Guardian
3/1/10 Michael Savage of the Independent
27/12/09 no programme
20/12/09 no journalist
13/12/09 Andrew Miller of the Economist
6/12/09 George Parker of the Financial Times
29/11/09 Toby Helm of the Observer
22/11/09 no journalist
15/11/09 Nick Watt of the Guardian