Blairite backing

Blairite sympathisers are gleefully pouring fuel on the flames of the McBride affair.

Yesterday’s online edition of Progress magazine (founder: D. Draper) included an article by Peter Kyle, formerly special adviser to the Blair loyalist chief whip, Hilary Armstrong, on “the dangers of über-loyalty”.

After observing that his conduct as a SpAd was constrained by both the Ministerial Code and the Code for Special Advisers, Kyle notes:

But the thing that kept me most tightly anchored to the straight and narrow was my own values coupled with efforts to live up to the standards set by my boss.

Kyle then offers his own views on McBride’s activities and Gordon Brown’s plans for tighter regulation through SpAds’ job contracts:

Would someone who’s (sic) moral compass allowed those emails to be drafted be restrained by further guidance? I’m not sure. If someone has to learn that it’s wrong to lie and smear from a job contract, I posit that the horse has already bolted and the opportunity for early intervention has long since passed. Just because there isn’t a job description for politicians doesn’t mean they shouldn’t put as much effort into hiring the right people, with the right character for the job, in the first place just like every other employer in the country.

In other words, if you want to know who’s ultimately to blame for McBride’s conduct, look no further than his boss.