The Cabinet’s credibility problem

Martin Bright makes a very good point on his blog about why the press will dismiss the protestations of loyalty and unity coming from the Cabinet:

“Too many conversations have been had by too many ministers with too many journalists about the inadequacies of the Prime Minister to believe the words of solidarity.”

In the last week or so, the ability of some Ministers to say one thing in private and another in public has been shocking even to journalists who know how things work. Perhaps, the worst example was of a Cabinet minister who while doing a round of interviews praising Gordon Brown was asking journalists for a quiet word, the content of which was the precise opposite of what was being said on TV.