L'Ombre de l'Olivier

The Shadow of the Olive Tree

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13 April 2009 Blog Home : April 2009 : Permalink

The Labour Party Unveiled

The well deserved outing of Damien McBride and Derek Draper as the scum that they are is telling in any number of ways. Firstly there is the support that they are receiving from their colleagues and superiors. The first rule of politics is "thou shalt not get caught" and these two got caught in a big way. Not surprisingly therefore no one is willing to admit to knowing anything about their dirty tricks campaign or to take responsibility for their actions. Yet on the other hand McPoison resigned.

McBride, it must be noted, is a civil servant - albeit a special sort of one - which is even worse because it indicates just how soviet the ZANU labour government has become. Traditionally in Britian civil servants are neutral advisors and implementers of policy. Party political hacks are not civil servants in the UK, that is something that only applies in communist and fascist dicatorships where being a party member is in fact required for certain positions.

But to go back a bit. McPoison resigned. Undoubtedly he was told to resign, but he did officially resign. He should have been given 10 minutes to clean out his desk and escorted out of Downing Street on Thursday, as soon as it became clear that he was going to be exposed. The fact that he wasn't just shows how badly the Brown regime has lost its moral compass.

In fact, seeing that he CCed various other 10 Downing Street apparatchiks on the mails themselves really he should have been fired when they were written in January not when they were exposed but I don't think anyone really expects politicians and their flunkies to blow the whistle on their fellows unless they were pushed.

Which thought leads us on to the question of honour and reputation - so famously defined by Aral Vorkosigan:

"Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself."

An honourable politician would not, it seems to me, tolerate someone who span these kinds of stories and would removed him years ago. One that was dishonourable and had no worry about his reputation would still employ him today, he might even give him a payrise. But one who was dishonourable but yet worried about his reputation would act precisely as Gordon Brown has done - deny all knowledge and act as though this was a sudden aberration.

The problem for G Brown & Co is that this is not credible and casts severe doubt on Brown's previous reputation as the dour honest son of the Manse. Nadine Dorries explains it thusly:

Damian McBride – also known as McPoison – reports directly to the Prime Minister, no one else. He takes his instruction from the Prime Minister and works within the Prime Minister's private office in the heart of 10 Downing Street.

Are we really expected to believe that the Prime Minister knew nothing of this?

As our country's economic standing worsens day by day, and it becomes nigh-impossible for the Labour Party to make itself re-electable, the desperate tactic appears to be to diminish the standing of the Conservatives and make Labour the least unattractive option. Is this how a "son of the manse" runs his office, his staff and the country?

McBride has claimed the scalps of more Labour MPs and ministers than he has Conservative frontbenchers. He is almost universally disliked in the Labour Party. His resignation does not close down the story because McBride and the PM were as one. The Government was spinning desperately yesterday, attempting to distance the PM from McBride. That just isn't doable: they have been glued at the hip since their early days at the Treasury.

And don't let us forget this bit of classic spin:

“It is the Prime Minister’s view that there is no place in politics for the dissemination or publication of material of this kind, which is why it is right that Mr McBride and Mr Draper took the decision not to publish this material and regrettable that others are choosing to do so.”

Mr McBride added: “I have already apologised for the inappropriate and juvenile content of my e-mails, and the offence they have caused, but I did not want these stories in the public domain – it is because Paul Staines has put them there, and I am sickened that he has done so.

“However, we all know that when a backroom adviser becomes the story, their position becomes untenable, so I have willingly offered my resignation.”

The slanders were not juvenile they were the calculated work of an adult and contrary to his claims, at one point at least, McBride certainly did want their content in the public domain. What he actually means is he didn't want their content traced back to him.

Fortunately Tom Harris shows that some labour MPs still care about their honour, otherwise one would have to consign the whole party to the scrapheap. However one does have to wonder about the judgement of the leadership. McBride is just a thuggish enforcer. His partner in crime, Derek Draper, is a coke snorting petty thief into BDSM who seems to enjoy talking dirty to attractive juniors and who is economical with the truth of his qualifications as a psychotherapist.