The fog of suspicion lingers around Downing Street, over the so-called ‘cash for peerages’ scandal. Boris Johnson had an interesting perspective on This Week last night. “Why do the police keep arresting all these people. Why don’t they charge. We’ve heard the muttering of the media: but I’d like to see the ectoplasm on this” And just as interesting he notes the distance between how Blair is preforming in the House of Commons and the way it is being reported in the media:
If you watched him at Prime Minster’s Questions for the whole half hour, most MPs would have filed out and said, “there’s old Blair, pretty much at the top of his game. He’s hit the ball pretty clearly to the boundary. He did okay”. But you look at the press the following day, it’s all about the rudeness of the Labour MPs for their once beloved Prime Minister and the way David Cameron finally decided to tell them to go.
Although it has to be said that Blair’s own momentum and energy did not seem wanting (sound file) on the Today Programme this morning where he seemed to grind the combative John Humphries (most of his first six minutes was spent asking the PM a question he made clear he wassn’t going to answer) into the ground by it’s end.
The real test for Labour will be how Gordon Brown faces his own challenges, when he finally breaks cover as the next PM. Not least, because there appears to be no viable alternative.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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