Politics unbriefed
- 10 Jul 07, 04:57 PM
This week we鈥檝e seen what may turn out to be the past and future of Labour politics.
The past came in the form of the publication of Alastair Campbell鈥檚 diaries. This was a launch tightly controlled in the way New Labour perfected in opposition over ten years ago. Campbell made himself available for big interviews on 大象传媒 One with Andrew Marr on Sunday (watch here), and on Radio Four with John Humphrys on Monday (listen here) - but neither of them was allowed to see a copy of the book before they did the interview.
There was no newspaper serialisation of extracts, as there often is with political books 鈥 Campbell said he didn鈥檛 want to cash in by using the papers he鈥檇 so often attacked. The only extracts available were the ones chosen by Campbell himself and published on his own website.
And as even the entire book itself - once you get hold of a copy - is just 鈥渆xtracts鈥 from Campbell鈥檚 diaries, chosen by him for political reasons, rather than a full unexpurgated record of his time as Tony Blair鈥檚 press secretary.
So it could be argued this was the old politics of spin 鈥 tell people what the story is before they have a chance to work it out for themselves, and then tell them only what you want them to hear rather than the full story.
That鈥檚 the past. The future seems to be the style adopted by Gordon Brown鈥檚 government for launching its policies. Already we鈥檝e seen this a few times 鈥 last week John Denham, the man in charge of Higher Education, surprised some journalists by not sending out his advisers to brief ahead of a Commons statement on changes to student grants; on Tuesday, the Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, was making a Commons statement, similarly without pre-briefing; and Gordon Brown is due to tell the Commons on Wednesday about his future legislative plans - we can guess at the content, but so far, no briefing.
This is an interesting change. If the government sticks with it, we鈥檒l no longer be waking up to stories saying 鈥渢he prime minister will today announce鈥︹, followed by an interview with a minister who - after insisting he mustn鈥檛 pre-empt his leader鈥檚 statement to parliament - then proceeds to spell out the key details. Instead, we鈥檒l all have to wait till the PM or minister actually makes his announcement in the Commons.
No bad thing you may say. Certainly that鈥檚 the reaction from my colleagues at 大象传媒 Parliament, who are naturally pleased when government policy is revealed first in the chamber. On the other hand, you may feel you like due warning of what鈥檚 coming up, so you can judge whether to tune in to a government statement on News 24 or Five Live. What鈥檚 your view?
Gary Smith is editor, political news
