"This McBride has been in charge, since September, of government strategy. He is meant to be coming up with ways of helping people through the recession. And what do we have? A load of pathetic and invented smears, with McBride egging on the blogs to mount false attacks not just on MPs but on their wives. It is contemptible, and it is a function of the bunker-like desperation in which the Prime Minister and his allies now find themselves. In their relentless, brutal, tribal viciousness they are no longer interested in doing good for the country, but only in doing down their opponents. They have lost their moral case to govern the country. They must go."
Read the background to this (The Article about how McBride tried to smear Boris at the Beijing handover).
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | April 13, 2009 at 20:35
I can't understand why Boris does not refer to lies rather than "pathetic and invented smears". Is the L word banned between politicians?
Posted by: Peter | April 13, 2009 at 20:36
Erm...is this the same Boris Johnson who had that ever so immoral phone conversation with Darius Guppy regarding beating somebody up?
Or the same Boris Johnson who was sacked from a national newspaper for making stories up, and then lying about it when he got caught out?
We'll be taking no lessons on morality from Mayor Johnson thank you.
Posted by: NorthernMonkey | April 13, 2009 at 20:43
Why not a simple proposal of a Vote of Confidence in the Brown Government ?
I reckon swathes of labour MP's would sit on their hands.
Posted by: Rod Sellers | April 13, 2009 at 20:47
"I can't understand why Boris does not refer to lies rather than "pathetic and invented smears". Is the L word banned between politicians?"
Peter, perhaps his sub editor at the Dolly Telegraph didn't like him being too nasty to the Dear Leader.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | April 13, 2009 at 20:48
Boris really ought to get on the blower to Darry and organise a good thrashing for this rum chappie McBride.
Posted by: Viscount Crouchback | April 13, 2009 at 20:50
Isn't it an inverted pyramid of piffle?
Posted by: lying liars and the liars who tell them | April 13, 2009 at 20:54
Well done, Boris - "contemptible" it is! And Sorry, NorthernMonkey, we will take no lectures from you on this one, thanks!
Posted by: Sally Roberts | April 13, 2009 at 20:59
Sally is spot on with this!
I think that this could be the weekend that a lot of decent labour minded voters decide enough is enough. If they decide to sit on their hands at the next election then this miserable government will get the sort of pasting at the polls that they truly deserve!
Posted by: Dominic Gray | April 13, 2009 at 21:13
"Erm...is this the same Boris Johnson who had that ever so immoral phone conversation with Darius Guppy regarding beating somebody up?"
http://freebornjohn.blogspot.com/2007/07/boris-johnson.html
"The only conclusion I can draw is that he was trying to make sure Guppy didn't manage to have the man attacked. Rather, he was stalling, waiting for Guppy's attention span to expire - a safe bet for those who knew him well."
Posted by: David | April 13, 2009 at 21:42
NorthernMonkey, Darius Guppy and Boris were not being paid by the taxpayer.
There is a difference between that and Gordon Brown misappropriating public money to pay a political lackey to orchestrate a smear campaign against opponents using the full resources of 10 Downing Street, all on Gordon Brown's orders.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | April 13, 2009 at 21:49
Northern Monkey
Brown's regime does indeed need all the lessons in morality that it can get.
The, er, moral compass is broken.
Posted by: Victor, NW Kent | April 13, 2009 at 21:57
"Why not a simple proposal of a Vote of Confidence in the Brown Government ?
I reckon swathes of Labour MP's would sit on their hands."
==========================================
No they wouldn't. Turkey's do not vote for Xmas! Indeed this would be a very silly road to go down to propose such a vote as of Brown won he would use this to his advantage. Instead of Parliamentary stunts we should press at all levels for abuses of this nature to be outlawed and if that means ditching loads of these quasi-Civil Servant advisers for all parties then so mote it be. Civil Servants should be apolitical in their work, if parties and MPs/Ministers/ even the PM want such political advisers let them or their Political party pay for them NOT the Taxpayers!
Posted by: Steve Foley | April 13, 2009 at 22:09
"Erm...is this the same Boris Johnson who had that ever so immoral phone conversation with Darius Guppy regarding beating somebody up?"
Steady on, old bean. We chappies who went to public school have a Homeric code of honour to uphold. It is wholly unreasonable to expect a chap like Darry to tolerate the slights of lower middle-class journalists. Boris did entirely the right thing in this instance.
Posted by: Viscount Crouchback | April 13, 2009 at 22:19
Homeric? Don't you mean Homoerotic? ;-)
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | April 13, 2009 at 22:25
Regardless of what NorthernMonkey claims Boris has (or maybe hasn't) done, I think Boris has hit the nail on the head really and sort of confirms my views on the current government, and it stinks of desperation when they sink to such low levels.
Rod's right in his comment about a Vote of Confidence in the Brown Government - the fear of speaking out or other such actions against Brown from within his own party, no matter how disrespectful it may be on paper, will be a contributing factor in their downfall and ultimate departure from power.
Posted by: Alex | April 13, 2009 at 22:50
Who cares?
Posted by: Peter North | April 13, 2009 at 23:09
How about getting twelve peers to petition the monarch to call a new parliament
-worked in 1642 and still part of parliamentary procedure -
just needs to be reactivated , thats all!
Posted by: Jake | April 13, 2009 at 23:18
Has anyone else noticed that if you use low fat mayo in cheese and tuna toasties the bread goes all soggy? What's this got to do with anything? About as much as this political decoy.
Get a grip losers. There's an ecomomy falling to bit over here and Labour want to spend their way out of it with money they don't have.
Only you self-absorbed tory cheerleaders give a flying **** about this.
Posted by: Peter North | April 13, 2009 at 23:33
"Who cares?"
About Peter North and soggy sandwiches? Not many I don't suppose.
BTW is "Peter North" another "Jack Stone" perchance?
Posted by: Steve Foley | April 13, 2009 at 23:39
And NorthernMonkey, Boris Johnson is not a Son of the Manse, who pontificates about 'saving the world', while his close advisor concocts vile sleaze to spread!
Posted by: Patsy Sergeant | April 13, 2009 at 23:46
Well - what about Donal Blaney's morality??
The guy says Ted Kennedy should DIE..
It's all over the place..
ddtaylor88.wordpress.com
Posted by: Calamity Blaney | April 13, 2009 at 23:46
Amen to that, Boris!
Posted by: Michael | April 13, 2009 at 23:47
Is there some sort of medical means of doing a "smear test" on Brown, and when is Draper going to stop digging his hole?
Posted by: Curly | April 14, 2009 at 00:13
Actually, I agree that this is being made into a smokescreen. I don't think it was planned that way, but Labour still know this stuff is only of interest to the politically 'tuned in'.
Sure the Mirror and other sources have been inundated with comments of solidarity against Labour over this. But those are still just politically-interested people.
Meanwhile, on the sly, the papers are talking about an "end to the recession" before Christmas and "better than expected" figures and "house prices rising again". It's all spun lies and manufactured feel-good nonsense. But that's the stuff man-on-the-street is listening to. Not this.
I'm as outraged as the next Tory over Damian and Derek and Gordon's smeargate. But we need to be very, very careful. Remember... It's The Economy Stupid. Beware subtle manipulation in the background. Gordon Brown is as slippery as an eel.
Posted by: Steve Tierney | April 14, 2009 at 00:53
Yes, Steve Tierney @ 00.53 I think you are right, we mustn't be side-tracked!
Posted by: Patsy Sergeant | April 14, 2009 at 01:00
I agree that Labour should take all moral lessons it can get. A vote of no confidence would be great, but it isn't going to happen. In '79 the Labour government didn't have a majority, this time they do. Should McBride not be charged with misconduct in a public ofice? There must be a digital paper trail for Red Rag somewhere, I'm fairly convinced it would give us more scalps, including ministers and union leaders. The first Labour government was brought down by our security services for the sake of our nation, the least they could do for Britain now is to get us that email trail.
Posted by: Tristan Downing | April 14, 2009 at 01:04
I agree that Labour should take all moral lessons it can get. A vote of no confidence would be great, but it isn't going to happen. In '79 the Labour government didn't have a majority, this time they do. Should McBride not be charged with misconduct in a public ofice? There must be a digital paper trail for Red Rag somewhere, I'm fairly convinced it would give us more scalps, including ministers and union leaders. The first Labour government was brought down by our security services for the sake of our nation, the least they could do for Britain now is to get us that email trail.
Posted by: Tristan Downing | April 14, 2009 at 01:05
All this utter piffle and meanwhile Rome burns !
What's new ? This type of dirty politics has been going on since Adam ate the shiny apple. You are all being naive if you think that other politicians
and other parties are not up to the same thing.
Posted by: Gezmond007 | April 14, 2009 at 06:42
Gezmond, you're missing the point. You obviously didn't read yesterday's lesson handed down to joshuwahwah on these pages.
We're not disputing the fact that this goes on in all parties, the problem in this case is that Gordon Brown used PUBLIC FUNDS to hire someone (McBride) to make up lies and spread them. Brown also gave McBride the full resources of the Number 10 bunker to achieve this and Brown personally ordered and orchestrated the attacks.
Again, a socialist who can't differentiate between the Party and the State.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | April 14, 2009 at 07:18
What utter tosh mr rock , I think you must live on fantasy island and you are so naive.
Posted by: Gezmond007 | April 14, 2009 at 07:57
The tory party just haven't been doing their job.
All the traps should have been set, so when this came to light it should have been game over for brown.
I said at the time that the yacht/osborne/daf-donation was a labour setup to blast the tories out of the water during the next election (and earned mandleson a seat in the lords). Had the daf donation been accepted, and the story been released at the next election, then no one would have believed that osborne didn't know, and noone would have believed hadn't set it up in corfu - to tories would be dead in the water).
This new stuff is mild in comparison.
The tories actually seem happy to play the political game (which will just get nastier and nastier - to no public benefit, but at significant public cost) - when they should be promoting root and branch reform with complete public transparency.
Government has far too much unaccountable power, and far too much money - it will inevitably attract the worst shysters this country has to offer. And never forget, con men and confidence tricksters make their living by being more plausible than the real deal, they don't wear stripy sweaters or carry bags marked 'swag'.
The publics only protection has to be based on a massive reduction in the size and finance of the government/public sector and complete transparency.
Putting so much power and money in one place is de-facto a 'bad thing'. Like putting too much uranium in the same place - it will result in a massively damaging reaction.
Without a commitment to small government and minimal taxes, all talk is just lip-service.
The tories do support small government and low taxes don't they ??
Posted by: pp | April 14, 2009 at 08:34
All fine knockabout party political stuff, but what about the wider public interest?
Including my interest, as a taxpayer who's been forced to help pay for this?
Why isn't Boris Johnson calling for a police investigation with a view to criminal prosecution?
The common law offence of "misconduct in public office" is described on the CPS website here:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/l_to_o/misconduct_in_public_office/index.html
"The elements of misconduct in public office are:
a) A public officer acting as such.
b) Wilfully neglects to perform his duty and/or wilfully misconducts himself.
c) To such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in the office holder.
d) Without reasonable excuse or justification."
Posted by: Denis Cooper | April 14, 2009 at 08:50
Can we please get back to a normal typeface, Mr Editor?
And where is Jack Stone these last few days? On holiday? I think we should know.
Posted by: David Belchamber | April 14, 2009 at 09:32
end italics!
We're heard this all before about brown having no moral authority to govern or like the independant said "Brown has lost his reputation for good character".
He never had a good character or any moral authority - everyone knew what he was like, but just some thought he was good at the economy so let him off.
So this scandal isn't going to make a slightest bit of difference - labour will still be corrupt and conservatives will make a few noises but it'll be forgotten by next week and no-one will be in jail or lose their pension.
Posted by: Norm Brainer | April 14, 2009 at 09:54