Tuesday 23 February 2010

Whoops! Who fed ConHome wrong polling data?

Whoops! With all the talk on Newsnight last night about sources, with Rawnsley forced to defend the veracity of his No 10 "bullying" stories, the Tories have their tales between their legs this morning. They had it "from a normally impeccable source" that, as Tim Montgomery tweeted "Tory lead doubles to 12% in immediate wake of Bullygate".

He has in the last few minutes corrected himself via tweet and ConHome: "Many apologies, I published inaccurate information about last night's YouGov poll." The figures were actually unchanged: C39-Lab33-LD17 ... a Tory lead of six points, not 12. Unfortunately bruiser Eric Pickles' bragging from last night are still there for all to see.

So who was this "usually impeccable source"? Apparently The Sun has declined to to the full figures on its site, leaving it to Reuters. Private Eye has recently speculated that Tom Newton-Dunn, old Etonian political editor, has become The Sun's de facto "link man" with the Tories ... Could it be his mistake?

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