WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

Watching Leveson, Prime Ministers Questions and Jeremy Hunt’s statement, on a day when the Tory mishandling of the economy was fully exposed as GDP dropped yet again, we are now in a double dip recession.
Leaving aside the disastrous implications of the latter, [1] for a first class political geek like me it was a bit like Christmas coming early.

Greater love for himself hath no politician than he ask that his political advisor lay down his career for him. What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours, yesterday coming from a department that was stating that nothing untoward had taken place. We are asked to believe that Hunt's Special Advisor, Adam Smith, went far outside his remit in cosying up to BskyB and in providing them with a information back channel, if that is the case then the question arises, why, what possible motivation would he have for acting so independently of Hunt?

Ed Miliband, who is incidentally the real hero of the hour, for if it had not been for pressure from him we would have no Leveson enquiry, certainly not the penetrating affair we have ended up with, and it is sickening to hear the Tories try to take credit for this, has now the measure of Cameron, he is all wind and bluster when cornered, the orchestrated cheering behind him only serve to make him look even more petulant. With respect to Murdoch Ed is uniquely placed amongst the political elite, he took Murdoch on when others were still holding back and has never sucked up to him, there are no incriminating photo’s in Murdoch’s locked drawer marked ‘persuasive arguments.’

Murdoch’s appearance before Leveson felt like something of an anti –climax, at times bordering on the soporific. Though here was a very different Murdoch than the one who appeared in the Commons Committee room, self assured, sharp, to the point of being cocky, almost certainly very well rehearsed. Here is a man who makes the salutations inside Hallmark greetings cards look like the pinnacle of sincerity.

Andrew Neil, a man whom I respect, to a degree, but for whom I feel little warmth and with whom I often feel in considerable disagreement, is a person to be trusted on this matter, he knows Murdoch. His appearance on Channel 4 this evening was extremely enlightening, describing Murdoch’s evidence as being economical with the truth; he went on to  speculate that Murdoch wanted to do real damage to the British political establishment, that he was in “slash and burn mood” but that he had been ‘hosed down’ by his US Lawyers. In the US he faces serious threats on a number of fronts and a wholly reckless performance before Leveson could very seriously damage his US operation.

Alex Salmond has surely been damaged by the Leveson revelations, up until now he has seemed indestructible, it will be interesting to watch developments north of the border.

It is frustrating thing to have so many people know that Mr Murdoch is lying under oath, Harold Evans and Andrew Neil to name but two, but to have such difficulty in proving it.  A question for Mr Murdoch’s appearance tomorrow, did Margaret Thatcher guarantee enough police to safeguard his Wapping operation before he made the switch?[2]

Murdoch would seriously like to damage Cameron if he can find a way to do so without damaging his own interests in the process.
I will watch developments tomorrow with interest…………..



[1] Though recognise this is a bit like saying ‘apart from that how did you enjoy the play Mrs Lincoln?
[2] Mr Neil says she did.

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