Today is a very good day to bury bad news. Prince William and Kate Midddleton’s engagement is going to dominate the news and the front pages for at least the next 24 hours. Almost any other story can be slipped out unnoticed in the current circumstances.
So it was a convenient time for Downing Street to announce that the photographer and the videographer would be moved off the public payroll and back onto the Tory one. This means that their work will not be able to appear on any government websites.
Downing Street’s correction is welcome. But in reality, the damage has already been done by this story. It will be like the car following the bike, a story constantly advanced by those sceptical of the PM. Downing Street should be examining itself to work out how it managed to do something so damaging to the PM’s standing.
Update: Downing Street is vigorously denying that it knew of the engagement when it made the annoucement about the photographer.
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