Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was on today’s Daily Politics, gushing with pride that his son Will is Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for the seat of Rossendale and Darwen in Lancashire. Yet it seems that this piece of dynastic info was news to Auntie. Will Straw was on the BBC News Channel this morning, discussing energy prices, and there was no mention of his being a PPC. The presenter simply said, ‘Will Straw is Associate Director of the centre-left think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research.’
Mr S would have forgiven the presenter had he not asked: ‘the Labour Party is talking about a freeze on energy prices for two years. Would you go along with that?’ Straw is a candidate seeking office under Miliband’s banner; of course he goes along with the price freeze nonsense. But he neglected to mention his candidacy, and gave this reply:
‘I think it is an idea that has really caught the imagination of the public. It is the only policy so far that looks like it can actually put downward pressure on these price increases. And it is now in a sense supported by former Prime Minister Sir John Major because the windfall tax that he proposes is pretty similar to a price freeze.’
Tory chairman Grant Shapps declared open season on the BBC last weekend, and it’s sloppiness like this that riles the blue team.
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