The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Liam Byrne, appears to be the Minister charged these days with the role formerly filled by John Reid: doing the media rounds and taking the ritual kicking when something goes badly wrong for the Government. Fact is, he’s quite good at it, giving the impression of calm, professional reasonableness.
The McBride affair, however, appears to have defeated even Liam’s powers of persuasion. Over the last couple of days, he has been wall-to-wall on TV and radio. On the BBC this morning, he was heard to commend Damian McBride for “doing the honourable thing” by resigning.
“Honourable” is the last adjective one would use in the context of the McBride affair. “Sleazy”, “base” and “reprehensible” spring more readily to mind.
Liam has gone above and beyond the call of duty on this occasion. Gordon owes him one.
I thought that the only ‘Honorable’ thing Labour did was to hand them out to their financial donors?
Arise Lord insert name of Greedy Banker and thanks for the dosh……..nudge,nudge,wink,wink
Where’s the General Election when you need one.