- More shooting the Brees again… - 2nd May 2025
- More polls apart - 1st May 2025
- On the record - 1st May 2025
During 23 years with the BBC, and a 41 year journalistic career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, secret recordings have often played a major role, and now this is underlined by today’s local elections in England which may be affected by a senior Conservative figure being secretly recorded suggesting the party could need to form a pact with Reform UK.
Sometimes regrettably secret recordings are necessary to establish the truth.
On many occasions I have had to record telephone conversations (for which special permission had to be given), in order to gain an accurate insight into internal developments, and satisfy the lawyer who checks the story.
On one occasion while working for BBC Panorama a specialist firm was used to give me a tie with a tiny hidden camera installed in it for an important meeting with a man we suspected of murder.
A security expert gave me advice, and an intruder alarm was installed at my house for that one, and the camera became so hot when it was on that I kept having to move the tie!
All of this has been thrown into sharp relief for me by what has happened to a Conservative frontbencher, and what it could mean for today’s council elections in England as well as the by-election.
For weeks now we have seen the rise in the polls of Reform UK which is particularly likely to hit the Tories, with many calling for a “unite the right” coalition to fight certain seats at the next General Election (GE).
In a secret recording at a student event Robert Jenrick, who came second in the Tory leadership vote and is the Shadow Justice Secretary, said that he is “determined” for the fight from the right against Labour “to be united”.
Mr Jenrick can be heard saying he would try “one way or another” to make sure Reform UK and the Tories do not compete at the next GE, handing a second term in office to Sir Keir Starmer in the process.
The Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has put a brave face on this, and a source close to her has stated: “She hasn’t condemned Jenrick for what he said because she has previously gone even further and told donors she believes a pact with Reform is inevitable”.
There have been discussions among members of the Conservative Party about whether they should put up a ‘paper’ candidate in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election and only spend a limited amount on campaigning, to give Reform UK a free run at Labour.
For many this was seen as a ‘dry run’ for any pact.
However the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage seems unimpressed.
Mr Farage has declared: “Don’t forget…this is Robert ‘Generic’. This is Robert the Remainer. This is the Robert the, I don’t stand particularly for anything at all, who suddenly appears to be.. on this Damascene Conversion”.
At any event it is clear that the secret recording has played a significant part in all this.
Perhaps, like mine, it was necessary to find out the truth of what is going on!
The memories of Phil’s astonishing, decades long award-winning career in journalism (when secret recordings were often used), as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in the book ‘A Good Story’. Order it now.
Tomorrow – why major questions are being asked about money given on a charity website, set up by a conspiracy theorist based in Wales who has appeared as a ‘media commentator’ on the contentious Russian TV station RT, engaged in a public spat with presenter Jeremy Vine, compared herself to David Icke, and threatened to sue The Eye.
