Mandy made it back after two resignations . Even David Blunkett is rumoured for some sort of return after two. Can Peter Hain come back after just one departure? I can’t see it somehow, as unlike either of them he has to apologise formally to the House, which is quite a big deal. His abortive and unwise deputy leadership campaign showed he has neither the party backing nor the political judgement needed at the present time. Peter is an upper medium sized political animal, not a Big Beast. It’s hard to disagree with his former Conservative shadow’s verdict.
“None of us could understand at the time how that Peter Hain could possibly make a mistake with £100,000 of donations,” he said. “Frankly it was inexplicable; it shouldn’t have happened.”
I’m still baffled why such an otherwise shrewd operator even bothered to run and how he could think that 100 grand could just be forgotten about to be dealt with later at his pleasure. Was he so devastated by the deputy leadership result that he couldn’t bear to think about its detritus?
Former BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London
Discover more from Slugger O'Toole
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
