Spin machine starts to creak

12 April 2012
Evening Standard editorial comment

New Labour - from the prefix in its name, to the smoothness of its presentation - was until recently the Master of Spin. Now, enjoyable as it may be for its opponents to savour the irony, the Party is falling victim to its overpractised use of the dark arts of spin. As the Government sifts the wreckage of the latest cynicism-inducing bust-up in its media manipulation machine, Labour must learn some hard lessons.

We know from 11 September that Ms Jo Moore, special adviser to Mr Stephen Byers, the Transport Secretary, likes to bury bad news on days when the media's attention is elsewhere. We know that she was warned earlier this week not to try this sordid trick today, the day of Princess Margaret's funeral. We know that relations are strained between Ms Moore and the career officials in the Department's press office.

More generally, we know, thanks to an extraordinary briefing yesterday by the Prime Minister's spokesman, that Mr Byers's leaky department is currently consumed by civil war. This is no way to run a railroad - or, in this case, the department that oversees railroads. We do not pay our taxes in order to waste them on petty squabbles or sordid media tactics. But even if Mr Byers cannot be moved by high-minded considerations of fiscal prudence, he should urgently ponder the less elevated task of self-preservation.

Ms Moore is plainly a liability and has to go. To say this is not to say that she is necessarily quite as culpable this time as she has been before, though she is not entirely innocent either. It is, rather, to recall the reason why Mr Gordon Brown's spin doctor, Mr Charlie Whelan, had to be dismissed three years ago. He had committed the spinner's ultimate sin of becoming a controversial figure in his own right. Ms Moore needs to be removed for much the same reason, irrespective of the precise details of this week's departmental conflict.

Most vital of all, however, the Prime Minister must send Mr Byers a clear ultimatum: get a grip on your warring department and make sure everyone works harmoniously and sticks to the rules - or return to the backbenches where you will have difficulty attracting any media attention at all, even on the slowest news day.

Raising standards

But in general the Commons standards committee failed miserably to act upon her investigations as it should have done. Not only was Ms Filkin effectively fired; her post was downgraded. Mr Mawer initially will work for a day a week, rising to three. Ms Filkin was paid for four days and worked for five. Self-regulation for the House of Commons must be made to work. Assuming, as we can, that MPs are not corrupt en masse, questions of what is and is not proper are much better ruled upon by other Members than by the heavy hand of the criminal courts.

The third option is to impose an externally appointed watchdog on the Commons. But that would tend to alienate MPs, potentially disastrous for an investigator who must rely upon voluntary disclosure and cooperation. We can only hope they will see the importance of supporting Mr Mawer with more enthusiasm than they showed for his predecessor.

Idolatory

What on earth will people find to do on a Saturday evening now that Pop Idol has finished? Normal service has resumed on ITV. Stars In Your Eyes and Blind Date have their fans, but do not provoke nearly as much passion. ITV has a duty to their own viewing figures to provide an equally compelling competition. We suggest a similarly-designed talent contest to find popular new politicians. The need for such men and women we can bear listening to - even if they sing old songs - is painfully obvious. Pop Idol is over; the time has surely come for Pol Idol.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in