FFS! Why let the facts get in the way of a good story, eh?

First of all, Jo Swinson has NEVER been the Lib Dems' youth affairs spokesperson. Secondly, her post as women and equalities was specifically NOT a front bench post, so God knows what planet the anonymous rentaquote you spoke to is on. Thirdly that quote from me is from an article that is overall positive about the reshuffle.

All of this has been manufactured out of a Labour press release. Since you filed this article 24 hours later, and have clearly been visiting my website, you would have been aware of my correction, so reporting this now seems frankly dishonest.

Pretty shoddy all round.

Oh, and it's LYNNE Featherstone.

Dear James
I thought you'd be pleased that your website got a mention. Obviously not. I made sure the link from my blog went to your update criticising Labour over its remarks, so that any readers of my blog were well aware of your apparent change of mind.
For the record, Jo Swinson was still on the LibDem front bench when she was demoted from being spokeswoman on Scotland (in the Shadow Cabinet) to the women and equalities brief (outside it). There are lots of frontbenchers who are not in the Shadow Cabinet.
I agree with you that what Labour thinks about Nick Clegg's reshuffle is irrelevant. My piece reflected comments to me by LibDem, not Labour, figures. I also took a positive view of the Clegg reshuffle. Perhaps you missed my Week in Politics column in The Independent yesterday, which was headed: "Expect the real Nick Clegg to stand up and surprise us all."
Merry Christmas
Andrew Grice

So if you read James' correction why reproduce the errors in Labour's press release as if they were fact? It seems very shoddy to me and frankly you deserved being chastised by James.

I didn't have an "apparent" change of mind. I wrote a positive review of Clegg's reshuffle, with some criticisms, which you took woefully out of context.

The sequence of events which you refuse to acknowledge is this: Rupa Huq and Omar Salem, two Labour activists, decided to make some hay over Jo being demoted from her role as "youth" spokesperson. Omar, in his capacity as Chair of London Young Labour, issued a press release to this effect.

24 hours later, this post appears which to all intents and purposes appears to be a regurgitated version of the LYL press release, including both the quote out of context by me and the factual error about her being youth spokesperson, basic errors which would be immediately apparent to anyone looking at my website and not seeking to cause mischief.

At least have the common decency to admit you made a mistake.

As for being "pleased" about being quoted out of context, why should I be grateful for being misrepresented? If you were being honest here, you'd have linked to the specific post you were quoting from, not just a general link to the blog.

Andrew,
Which parts of your original piece (a) were not lifted from a Labour Party news relese, and (b) do you still stand by?

Jo Swinson *was* Vice Chair of the Liberal Democrat Youth & Students. That is, unless she's lieing on her own website - http://www.joswinson.org.uk/pages/joswinson.html - surely not? Perhaps we should give Andrew what I believe the french call "le benefit de la doubt"?

a) Grice isn't claiming Jo was a Vice Chair
b) Omar Salem and London Young Labour are claiming she was a former Chair, not Vice Chair (at least they were - I notice Omar has now retrospectively changed all his postings now - how very Stalinesque!).