Some great pieces from James Forsyth and Michael Brown about the shame of Jacqui Smith following the absurdity of her husband claiming X rated movies on expenses and what that means for the Government as a whole. Both make a similar point. The Home Secretary is now a figure of fun and one of the great offices of state. The Government as a whole is no longer taken seriously. The G20 – the great hope of Gordon Brown as the springboard to political recovery is falling apart around his ears, with Angela Merkel being dismissive of the PM’s approach and the Czech Prime Minister quoting AC/DC to damn Brown’s accumulation of debt.
At the same time, Obama has infuriated Brownites by requesting a meeting with David Cameron. Clearly the master political operator from across the Atlantic knows which way the political wind is blowing. As Simon Hoggart has mentioned, Labour MPs will now walk out of the Chamber when the Prime Minister is speaking. This is a Government losing authority almost on an hourly basis. The road from a Government being held up to ridicule to a Government being condemned in an electoral test can surely not be a long one.
Related posts:
Never mind the ridicule – what about the smear campaign?