Guido is reporting a rumour that Damian McBride has been sacked from Downing Street. He stresses that it is unconfirmed, but if there is any truth, it won’t relieve the pressure on the Prime Minister; the questions I posed earlier remain to be answered.
Meanwhile, Derek Draper has nobly broken off from his holiday (no doubt completely umprompted by No 10) to post a particularly weasel-worded “explanation” of his conduct on LabourList. It confirms his exchange of e-mails with his “mate in Downing Street” (why can’t he use the words “Damian McBride”?), but denies any attempt at a smear campaign.
He then has the astonishing cheek to pen the following piece of self-pitying baloney:
In the meantime there is no doubt that these gossipy stories were a silly juvenile idea but that is all they were, juicy email evidence or not. I regret having had the original idea even if it didn’t go anywhere, but doesn’t what’s happened show the nature of these right wing blogs? They will stop at nothing to attack Labour people – it’s me this week, who will it be next week? And they have the gall to talk of smears…
At the end of the day, though, the lesson is that we should leave tittle tattle and gossip to the right wing blogosphere. We on the left should concentrate on ideas, policy and campaigns, which is what LabourList, whatever is thrown at us, will continue to do.
For the third time of asking: do Mr Draper and his appalling blog enjoy the endorsement of the Prime Minister?
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