Would a McBride return be curtains for Brown?
Surely there’s no truth in the reports that he’s back?
James Forsyth at the Spectator Coffee House blog is running a report that there are unconfirmed reports that the disgraced Number 10 spin doctor and former right hand man to the PM, Sean Damien McBride, is “actively working for Labour again”.
I simply don’t believe it. For given everything associated with McBride’s exit in April and all the promises last Monday that Brown had turned a new leaf it would be an act of supreme folly for him to be operating again even if only “behind the scenes”. It could make the PM’s position untenable.
For the thing about the McBride smear team was that their primary targets were within the Labour movement itself and perhaps the biggest sighs of relief when he was fired were from Labour figures. The planned campaign against Tory ministers, their familties and Nadine was a new departure.
Brown is so weak at the moment that something like this could be the straw that broke the camel’s back. It would show such bad faith within the the higher echelons of the party even if Brown himself did not know the details.