What are we to make of the “Spin-Master’s” latest venture?

With sharp moves on the “When Blair will go” betting markets to a 2007 departure the Prime Minster’s former top spinner, Alastair Campbell, has launched a “World Cup Blog” on the Labour Party web-site.

Why should these two elements be connected you might ask? Well it’s clear that even after only two entries this is no ordinary football blog even though, like me, he is a life-long Burnley fan.

It’s titled “Labour’s World Cup Blog with Alastair Campbell” and in the first entry its true purpose starts to become clear “….I had a chat with Terry Venables who said that the Prime Minister is probably one of the few people who can understand the media and public pressures on the England manager, because he is the one person in the country who is under even greater scrutiny. Tony Blair has survived a fair few frenzies too, and manages to keep focussed on the big picture and the big policy changes needed to take Britain forward. I think one of the reasons so many in the media loathe him is that he has survived so many tons of their bile, not to mentions their calls on him to go at a time of their choosing not his. The public all have their own individual views of high profile people like Tony and Sven. But whatever those views are, they tend to admire people of strength and fortitude who just keep going...”

That same first piece had an attack on women football writers and the first person to make a comment was party chairman Hazel Blears.

The main thrust of the second entry is an attack on the BBC and the Daily Mail.

This one will surely run.

World cup betting.

Mike Smithson