What I wrote at Lib Dem Voice

June 21, 2007

How now Brown cowed

So, who did leak the story of Gordon Brown’s approach to the Lib Dems? Iain Dale reckons it was Paddy Ashdown who spilled the beans to Guardian editor Alan Rushbridger:
The interesting thing here is that the whole thing is Paddy Ashdown's fault. If he hadn't leaked the offer to Alan Rusbridger on Tuesday evening, the whole sorry series of events might never have come to light.
Fellow blogger (and former lobby journalist) Paul Linford repeats the allegation here. These are the only two places where I’ve seen this rumour spread, and in neither case do they substantiate why they believe it was Paddy wot leaked it.

To me (and, come to that, the BBC’s Nick Robinson) it seems pretty clear the only person with something to gain from leaking this news was Team Gordon. So why heap the blame on Paddy?

3 comments:

Iain Dale said...

Stephen, Paddy had lunch with Rusbridger that day. Bit of a coincidence, eh?

Stephen Tall said...

And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, Iain...

Btw, were they really having lunch in the evening? They're so decadently bourgeois at the grauniad.

Anonymous said...

Given that both Ashdown and Campbell told him to go forth and multiply, why is this good for Team Brown?