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23 May 2006 Decline and fallMuch though I might feel a little queasy linking to a deeply Conservative blog, let alone one repeating a Mail on Sunday story, this episode - reported by Iain Dale - is deeply, deeply sick. For those who don't want to contaminate their browser by having a JPEG of the Mail displayed on it, here's the crucial bit: Cherie Blair was last night accused of 'bad taste' and 'insensitivity' after helping the Labour Party to cash in on the suicide of Governmet scientist Dr David Kelly. Mrs Blair signed a copy of the Hutton Report into the weapons inspector's death, which was then auctioned off to raise money for the party. The document, which was also signed by Alastair Campbell, fetched £400 at an after dinner auction. Astonishing. CommentsIs it actually true though? This has shocking similarities to the smear campaigns that were so successfully launched against Al Gore by the conservatives in the US. Iain Dale's claim that it must be true because the Mail on Sunday said so is incredible. Posted by Ben on 23.5.06 10:09 Yes, that's a good point. I'd hope that something based on a single fact, though, should have been fairly rigorously checked. I understand it's been raised in Parliament now, so doubtless the truth will out pretty quickly. On reflection, the worrying thing about the MoS story is that they pin it on Cherie Blair specifically and relegate Alastair Campbell to a footnote. The Mail has never liked her, for no particularly good reason that I can discern other than her hairstyle. But the Alastair Campbell link, if true, is really pretty disgusting - he was a key part of the Kelly/Hutton story, and this shows him in a very poor light. Posted by Richard on 23.5.06 11:19 I'm not going to comment on the story, but have you looked at his Last FM top 10 list? His top artist this week is Will Young, and his no. 2 overall is Cliff Richard. In terms of evil he's really going to have to get extreme in his political views to match those musical tastes. Posted by Duncan on 23.5.06 12:44 | |
