Heydon Prowse was right to secretly film Alan Duncan

Conservative blogger Iain Dale appeared on Newsnight yesterday evening, opposite the editor of Don’t Panic magazine Heydon Prowse, to discuss Prowse’s undercover filming of Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Alan Duncan. Duncan made some embarrassing remarks regarding the recent expenses furore. In the video, Duncan says:

Basically it’s been nationalised. You have to live on rations and you are treated like shit.

These comments are rather important seeing as he’s the man heading up Cameron’s parliamentary reforms. This undeniably contradicts his public persona of sincere apology. Iain Dale, however, is completely opposed to what Prowse did. Dale said:

it was incredibly rude of him, having accepted an invitation to the House of Commons from a man whose garden he had dug up, to then record their conversation

…to point out the sheer duplicity of the jerk who did the surreptitious filming. Remember, this is the man who dug up Alan Duncan’s lawn. Alan magnanimously invited him for a drink at the House of Commons so he could put his point of view to him in person.

Just to clarify, for Don’t Panic magazine Prowse had dug a pound sign into Duncan’s garden and planted flowers in it, as a form of protest against his gardening expenses. Duncan called ‘fair game’ and invited Prowse for a drink in the Commons. Now, Dale takes issue with the secret recording of the conversation between Prowse and Duncan. However, in the interests of investigative journalism – what’s exactly wrong with that?

Duncan has previously made dubious remarks about his expenses. Prowse would have undoubtedly been aware of this. Duncan has to put on a public show of sincere regret, but does he really mean it? Where better to find out than in the comfort of the Commons’ bar over a glass of wine? Prowse took the gamble, filmed their encounter and got a result. Dale presents this as though it’s been a betrayal of trust between friends – it’s nothing of the sort. Duncan is an elected representative and he is being held to account. That’s how democracy works.

It’s in the public interest that Duncan’s real feelings about expenses are aired – after all, he will more than likely be a senior cabinet member this time next year. As has been pointed out, MPs should be up front and honest about how they feel, and not hide behind an amicable public persona. Duncan has learnt this the hard way.

I suspect Dale’s opposition is mostly due to him being the Tories’ yappy little online Chihuahua, and is an attempt to save some face for the Conservatives.