Are we changing the political terms of trading?

Everybody seems to be getting bogged down in the detail and is missing the big point – what Green did has been part and parcel of the political process for generations and it is a nonsense and an outrage that it should be regarded as a crime.

James Forsyth sums it up well on the Spectator Coffeehouse blog: “If what Damian Green did was illegal, opposition politicians have been committing illegal acts for as long as anyone can remember. (Even if the leaks were being encouraged then that is hardly new). The power of the state is such that the benefit of the doubt should go to the opposition in these matters. Also, the consequences of fully investigating these leaks are worse than the leaks itself: can anyone be comfortable with the idea of opposition politicians having their phones bugged by our over-mighty police force? Labour, who will in all likelihood be on the other side of this divide within a year or two, would do well to remember this.”

So who cares if Green was encouraging his leaker? Who cares who knew what when? Provided there is no question of the nation’s security being at stake – which given the nature of the suggested “offence” we must assume – then it is loopy for this to have got to where it has.

Looking at the polls then it is the height of stupidity for Labour politicians to be giving even overt support to what has happened because within eighteen months time they are likely to be the opposition. The Green case could set a nasty precedent for them.

The really big error by the government in all of this is that is has changed the media narrative which was benefiting Brown enormously. Now Labour’s on the defensive and Cameron has a platform again. Dumb politics. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Our carton is, of course, by Marf of LondonSketchbook.com.

Mike Smithson