Alice Miles, who has been a consistent critic of the Brownite way of doing politics has an excellent column in The Times on smeargate. (Although, it is slightly ironic that a column that is so critical of the culture of anonymous briefings has so many blind quotes in it.) One quote in it is the perfect rejoined to Brown’s letter to the Cabinet Secretary:
“This was not just an error of judgment, these e-mails,” another former Cabinet minister put it. “It’s a total error of character. These changes to the rules about special advisers are completely and totally irrelevant. It’s not about rules, it’s about the moral compass of those involved.”
Also note how Miles becomes the latest journalist to report that Brownite tactics are being used to boost Ed Balls’ leadership bid:
Senior Labour figures are aware that the techniques used to stifle dissent against Mr Brown in the past are already being used to manipulate the succession in favour of Mr Balls.
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