Andrew Bolt gets back to politics after considering resignation
News Limited’s outspoken political commentator and blogger Andrew Bolt has resumed normal service after a day of refusing to write about politics in what appeared to be a standoff with the company.
At midnight on Monday night Bolt – whose offering is promoted as “Australia’s most read political blog” – posted: “No politics until further notice. Principles to weigh up. Faith to keep. Sorry.”
The comment came after the day’s events which saw The Australian withdraw and apologise for allegations it had made about Julia Gillard, but most of the claims remain on Bolt’s blog.
Bolt’s comments generated heavy speculation among his readers as to the reason.
But on Tuesday afternoon he posted an update saying: “Afrer discussions, I now feel free to speak my mind. So I shall. In tomorrow’s column. I apologise for the mysteriousness, but I did not want to act in anger or before matters had been resolved. I had to be fair to my employer and to my readers, and I apologise if you think I’ve had the balance wrong over the past 24 hours. Thank you to everyone who has rung, emailed or commented on this post, here and on radio.
Wednesday update: In his column today, Bolt said he considered resigning.
He tells readers:
“Yesterday morning I was considering resigning as a News Limited columnist.
“I thought this company that I love, that I have long admired for its defence of free speech, had caved in to pressure from a Prime Minister to close down reporting of a matter of public interest.
“That matter was (edited by Mumbrella for legal reasons)
“I was under instructions not to comment on this myself, after I wrote about it on my blog on Saturday, until further legal advice was received.
“Posts from my blog were pulled on Monday, although I believe they were fair, accurate and in the public interest.”
In the post, Bolt claims that Gillard “went ballistic” and “nuclear” and called News Limited boss John Hartigan several times.
Bolt suggests that fear of a threatened inquiry into media ownership may have been behind News Limited caving in to Gillard. He said: “I have not the slightest doubt that Gillard’s suggestions of an inquiry greatly worried News Limited, and influenced its overreaction to the Prime Minister’s fury these past days.Whether Gillard specifically mentioned the threat of an inquiry in her ‘multiple’ calls to News Limited executives I do not know. ”
He added: “I could not do my job, and I consulted friends about resigning. I am now told that News Limited was just being cautious while it checked its legal position.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
Linkedin
Bolt has principles?
User ID not verified.
This is typical of the rat bag negative journalism plaguing our Prime Minister. It is clear that journalists like you have an agenda to sink this reformist Government. Where is the balance in the Australian press to inform (not mislead and confuse) the Australian community. I guess good news doesn’t sell newspapers but a bit of balance would be welcome.
User ID not verified.
@Bill I haven’t laughed so loud and so long for ages! ‘reformist’ ROFL
User ID not verified.
Milne and Bolt are trying to get people to think about joining the dots on these two points:
Gillard recently stated she was unaware of the Thompson allegations despite her chief of staff investigating these allegations in 2009.
Gillard has also said she was unaware of Wilson’s embezzlment, saying she was young and naive.
Life could have been easier has she remembered, “No man (person) has a good enough memory to make a successful liar….”
User ID not verified.
Oh Andrew – what a ghastly couple of days you have had. PLEASE keep on doing what you do. You are an oasis in the desert. You are a true hero to me – and many others. You say what we need to hear. We have a government in complete crisis and the likes of OUR ABC, SMH, Oakes, Riley, Hart etc just don’t/can’t report the FACTS. We need you Andrew. My happy thoughts are streaming to you.
Regards
Deirdre
User ID not verified.
@Bill: Take a step back. This is not about Gillard or Labour. It’s about ego and personal marketing. Bolt et al are not people who would have a job (look at his past) had they not invented the populist, angry tub-thumping personas they occupy. Bolt, for example, was a lame hack at The age, a PR for the ALP and otherwise lost for a career until he lucked in.
My point: these people desperately need to oppose something. Tony Abbott’s the wrong fit (though you’d have to think Turnbull might be a target). Ask yourself who Alan Jones was so willing to make a total git of himself on the front lawn of Parliament? It’s marketing. It’s the brand. And it’s about as good for you as cigarettes.
User ID not verified.
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for ‘coming back’!! We need journalists like you and those at 2GB to keep us informed in ‘layman’s’ terms. Politics is a very complex business and obviously we would not know important, perhaps hidden, information if it were not for people like yourself. Please do not mention my surname as my son is at 2GB.
Thank you once again.
Cheers
Fay
User ID not verified.
Pretty sure that’s what the ABC is there for
User ID not verified.
Troll-ololololo…Mumbrella’s been infiltrated.
What exactly do ‘Fay’ and ‘Deirdre’ think this site is about? They appear to have mistaken it for a Bolt fan site. If they’re real, and I have my doubts, this is just a perfect example of why Bolt and his crew cannot be taken seriously.
Thanks for the laugh ladies!
User ID not verified.
Yes, thank goodness 2GB and Bolt and the like are there to simplify complicated things. I have been struggling to form my own opinion for some time, confused by arguments, statistics, evidence – all sorts of mystifying things. Andrew, like Ray and Alan on the radio make it so much easier for me. They tell me what to think, allowing me to concentrate on other things, like eating, or abusing the neighbours. And one last point – send the boats back! Goodnight.
User ID not verified.
I’m willing to bet Deirdre and Fay talk to their televisions…
User ID not verified.
Golf clap.
User ID not verified.
Andrew Bolt retiring and disappearing is my dream. To hear this news… I’m shattered.
User ID not verified.
Bolt considered resigning but an MP with prossies on his union credit card did not.
Entertaining.
User ID not verified.
Bolt calls it bad judgement to be in a relationship with an alleged embezzler . You can’t read people’s minds. I don’t know how anyone would be aware if someone else was ripping off their work or embezzling. I mean its not like they are going to broadcast it.
The crazy Tories like Bolt just don’t accept they didn’t win the election and they must have been so desperate if a rightwing god bothering person like Tony Abbot would even joke about selling his arse.
User ID not verified.
I wonder who Deirdre and Fay’s ghost writers are? Maybe Bolts spent his lay-day productively.
User ID not verified.
Just when will your arrogant media reporters , like yourself hold the Mad Monk, accountable for the taxpayers money he is wasting on travel expenses plus accommodation expenses. for him Jetsetting all over the country. He marches it to factories making out he cares for workers, when the truth is he couldn’t care less about workers. Abbott, and his party are all about Work choices, and how they will strip workers pays, and there Entitlements. It is in the Fiberals, DNA.
User ID not verified.
How big is this guys ego?
User ID not verified.
Please Andrew, give it a re-think and quit.
User ID not verified.
Slow clap?
User ID not verified.
Andrew, give them hell, especially that Rob Oakshott. Julia was young and naive, she claims. Well she was supposed to be a top notch solicitor wasn’t she. Good grief when are we going to get some credibility into parliament. Thank god she didn’t move that boyfriend into the lodge.
User ID not verified.
Elaine, we will probably get some credibility into parliament when Abbott focuses on government business and not his personal lust for power (that he would think hard about selling his arse for … apparently … though denied of course).
By the way, you are aware that 181 bills have passed through parliament this year … a high figure that could even be a record … despite the whingeing shenanigans of the Mad Monk. We had an election, one side was able to form a coalition government (like in the UK, the Nordic countries, Austria, Italy, Germany, Japan, Israel, NZ, Switzerland … and various Australian state governments recently). Now if only Abbott would realise that a coalition government was a valid election outcome and let the coalition government get on with business (which they seem to be successfully doing despite what you read in the headlines).
User ID not verified.
Is Andrew related in anyway to Usain Bolt? Or is that just the Dutch connection? Perhaps if Andrew did quit he could plug the new Masters hardware stores, utilizing his highly relevant surname, whilst pulling up a ‘Masters’ branded kilt; hey presto…
User ID not verified.
Deirdre, Fay, Elaine… Have I woken up in 1958?
User ID not verified.
Bolt loves newspapers because everything is in black-and white!
User ID not verified.
Tony …. and if he had his way he’d probably get rid of the black.
User ID not verified.
Andrew Bolt is a legend IN HIS OWN MIND. To see what this piece of work is all about, check out his wikipedia page.
User ID not verified.
God help us if you were ever gagged from reporting on a government gone mad. a government that doesn’t listen or seem to be aware of what goes on beyond our shores. Reported yesterday that the government is to spend $400,000.00 to introduce Multiculturalism into our schools when it has failed in every European country France,Germany, England,Holland etc
User ID not verified.
Newslimited papers are aimed at those with a reading and comprehension level equivilent to that of an eight year old child. Explains why Bolt is so revered by the likes of Nettleford david, Deirdre, Fay, Elaine
And Elaine’s comment “Thank god she didn’t move that boyfriend into the lodge”, pretty much sums up the ignorance of those who read Bolt.
User ID not verified.
I do not agree with labour at the moment but I find Andrew bolt to extremely boring. He is always obsessed with three things
1. Global warming
2. Labour and Julia gillard
3. Aboriginal and boat people
I respect his opinion but he goes on and on and on and on . get over it Mr. Bolt.
It is not the end of the world. Or change your name to Moby Dick. You are obsessed with labour.
User ID not verified.