Enoch Powell famously said that “For a politician to complain about the press is like a ship’s captain complaining about the sea.” For Tony Blair to complain about spin is like… well, words fail me. But the Prime Minister had plenty of words about how the wicked media has corrupted the message of the virtuous political class. All his press conferences, committee appearances were for to no avail. For the press are “feral beasts” whose negative stories about his government apparently “saps the country’s confidence and self-belief”.
I enjoyed and agreed with Tony Blair’s valedictory article on foreign affairs in The Economist. But this is beneath him. It’s just the most monstrous hypocrisy, sounding more like the out-takes from the Alastair Campbell lecture tour.
But one point I find logically unsound. Blair points to the proliferation in the media: cutthroat competition, the migration of advertising revenue to cyberspace etc.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate, free for a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first month free.
UNLOCK ACCESS Try a month freeAlready a subscriber? Log in