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Paul Staines is a right-wing libertarian, who promoted acid house parties in the early 1990s. He is currently "one of Britain's leading" political bloggers, writing under the pseudonym Guido Fawkes.

Early life and education

In 1983, Staines was the UK Atari Video Games Champion.

Politics

Staines is a right-wing libertarian, who described in a 2000 publication how he becamse a libertarian in 1980 after reading Karl Popper's The Open Society and its Enemies, from Plato To Marx. He joined the Young Conservatives "because they were the only people around who were anti-Socialist or at least anti-Soviet", and at this time began calling himself Delaire-Staines, the name shortened by his father to Staines in the 1960s. Having joined the Federation of Conservative Students, he described his politics as "Thatcher on drugs". He relates that at university he was a "right-wing pain in the butt who was more interested in student politics than essays", who went on "to work in the various right-wing pressure groups and think tanks that proliferated in the late eighties". He admitted that his uncompromising attitude towards libertarianism had been harsh and off-putting, but that it was "time for a more effective, kinder, gentler kind of Libertarianism".

From 1988 to 1990, he was a member of the SDP, on the National Executive of the Youth and Students organisation - and not as has been argued, then a Liberal Democrat.

Acid house

Staines was an organiser of raves and Acid House in the early 1990s.

Financial Career

Staines made his fortune in finance, acting as Chief Investment Officer for Mondial Global Investors hedgefund in Tokyo. He was also principal trader for the Eurodare hedge fund.

Guido Fawkes blog

In September 2004, a blogger began writing critically about politicians of the United Kingdom parliament, under the name of Guido Fawkes, an alternative name of Guy Fawkes, one of the group that plotted to blow up Westminster Palace in 1605. In February 2005, the online version of The Guardian reported that Fawkes' blog shared a fax number with Staines. Although he subsequently denied the links, further media coverage continued to name Staines as Fawkes until the airing of a BBC Radio 4 documentary on him, which gave a fairly comprehensive history and background, and prompted his blog post "So Much For Anonymity".

The blog is hosted by Blogger, though the content is published through the mechanism of a limited liability company called Global & General Nominees LLC, incorporated in Nevis.

In 2005, Staines' blog was voted the best in the Political Commentary category of The Backbencher Political Weblog Awards, run by The Guardian.

In May 2006, Staines (as Guido Fawkes) co-authored a book with Iain Dale about instances of sleaze from the Labour Party since taking office in 1997.

Staines reported the allegation that John Prescott was having an extra-marital affair with an MP, and named the woman in question, saying that such rumours had long been shared among Westminister journalists, but that he was being less hypocritical and breaking the clique by refusing to cover up such stories.

As Guido Fawkes he is a regular guest on a live radio show and podcast

On 10 February 2007, he and his blog were the subjects of a BBC Radio 4 Profile documentary .

Smith Institute allegations

Staines has made a number of posts on his blog relating to The Smith Institute, a charitable thinktank setup in memory for former Labour leader John Smith, which he alleged to have engaged in party political activities (forbidden under charity law) and links to Gordon Brown. These complaints led on February 1st 2007 to a formal investigation by the Charities Commission. The Commission threatened him with contempt of court proceedings if he did not release any documents, obtained from whistleblowers, relating to political activties by the Smith Institute. Staines has stated that he intends to protect his anonymous sources.

Leisure

Staines took an interest in bull running, but a bull got the better of him at the start of the Festival of San Fermín in July 2002, though Staines escaped with facial injuries.

References

1. Graeme Wilson and Brendan Carlin. Focus on Labour website in peerage row. Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 January 2007
2. Cite error: The named reference AltS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. "Paul Staines". SourceWatch. Center for Media & Democracy. Retrieved 2006-08-01.
5. "Guido Fawkes". Blogger. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
6. "Who you gonna call?". Guardian Unlimited. 2005-02-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. "Guido Fawkes' blog of plots, rumours & conspiracy". Retrieved 2006-08-12.
8. "Guido Fawkes' blog of plots, rumours & conspiracy". Retrieved 2006-08-12.
9. "The Backbencher Political Weblog Awards: Help choose the winning blogs". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved 2006-06-01.
10. Dale, Iain (2006). The Little Red Book of New Labour Sleaze. Politico's Media. ISBN 1-904734-16-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
11. Cite error: The named reference OPG was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
12. Cite error: The named reference bull was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
13. "mondialglobalinvestors's profile". Yahoo! Member Directory. Retrieved 2006-11-18.

Further reading

• Collin, Matthew (1998). Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House (2nd edition ed.). London: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 1-85242-604-7. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)—Staines features in this book written by Collin, the ex-editor of UK trend bible i-D magazine.
• Article on acid parties by Paul Staines

External link

• Guido Fawkes' blog of plots, rumours & conspiracy – Staines' blog

• 1960s births
• Living people
• British bloggers
• Old Harrovians