Philip Hammond: Politicians don't do yes-no questions

In Westminster this morning, Cabinet ministers are looking nervously at their diaries. They’re wondering whether they’ll be the next to get the call asking them to try to smooth down the comms mess the government has made of the floods. Eric Pickles didn’t make a great go of it this weekend. Philip Hammond has just managed to tell the Today programme that politicians don’t ‘do’ yes-no questions in an attempt to avoid saying whether or not he backs Lord Smith (presumably because whatever he says, Number 10 will change its mind on the line a few minutes later). Perhaps tomorrow we’ll have Francis Maude dodging questions on the Environment Agency by giving flooded homeowners tips on sandbags. And after that William Hague being vague.

For what it’s worth, the current line seems to be that having whipped the media up into a frenzy about the demise of Chris Smith, ministers are to say nothing about him in as many words as possible: