Blog posts tagged "Damian McBride"

June 5, 2009 9:01 am No Comments

Crumbs! An act of personal political courage – or of scheming personal political advancement? At this point almost impossible to judge. I don’t know James Purnell well. He was once a pivotal bag carrier, speech writer and muse inside Tony Blair’s Downing Street. Hence a Blairite, almost certainly well aware of, and wary of, Gordon [...]

April 21, 2009 11:54 am No Comments

My attack on the Westminster lobby system was badly phrased. It is true the government lets it be known there are “meetings” of the lobby: the detail of when, where, and who is giving the briefing has been published for some time.

April 20, 2009 4:41 pm No Comments

I went to see In the Loop last night, a romp around New Labour spin doctors. Thin plot, thin skeleton to hang some very funny jokes. It’s a pity in a way, because it over simplifies the spin doctory. It isn’t all ‘attack dog’ and ‘filth’. There is also a very sophisticated subjugation of truth, and [...]

April 15, 2009 4:57 pm No Comments

You may have found the past few days of revelations concerning the inner workings of Downing Street, a heartbeat from the prime minister, hard to credit. But how about this? On the day the G20 summit met in London’s Docklands, we asked people – mainly via Twitter - to keep an eye open for anyone [...]

11:02 am No Comments

Spotted by our cameraman yesterday – the Downing Street rat. After the Damian McBride affair, Brown’s opponents might ask whether it is a rat leaving a sinking ship?

April 14, 2009 12:33 pm No Comments

For those of us who intersect with the Downing Street Press Office from beyond the confines of the Westminster lobby, the revelations regarding Damian McBride came as little surprise. Uncouth would be a kind description of the man, charmless would perhaps be more accurate. After all, he was seemingly known as Mad Dog to his [...]