From red rag to bull…

[Albus]

http://parmjit.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/from-red-rag-to-bull/

Whether or not Damian McBride had to go should not even have been a matter for debate. Tom Harris is absolutely spot on in his blog when he says: “…the Tories might privately have hoped McBride would survive. After all what could be more damaging to the government and to the Prime Minister himself than to be seen to endorse such behaviour by taking no action against him?” Likewise for anyone else found to have been involved in ’smeargate’.

The more I read about these e-mails, targeting not just politicians but their families, the more I can only conclude this is one of the most sordid and damaging things that have ever been produced by ‘allies’ of a Prime Minister, certainly in my lifetime.

So what happens now? Firstly, don’t underestimate the damage this will do to the body-politic in this country, so the clearer and louder the apology, the better. But beyond that, things have got to change. I know current ministers and ex-ministers who have been briefed against or ’smeared’ by people who have then been allowed to just carry on in their posts, encouraged and rewarded even.

Journalists have informed me that at the last reshuffle I got a dose of the ‘briefing’ treatment by one or two who I thought knew better too. And this is from people who are meant to be on our side! But when they brief people, they always think they’ll never get found out. They’re wrong.

The Prime Minister needs to be strong and firm on this issue, because this goes way beyond party-politics. If people want to play university student union style politics in the blogosphere by smearing people with lies and innuendo, then frankly they should either leave and go back to the campus or the PM should kick them out.

It was bad enough that people don’t want to go into politics because they think politicans are disreputable, now they’re unlikely to for fear of being lied about.