Well, if you’re the prime minister, you’re not allowed to fight back against your enemies in case you win because Gus O’Donnell says so, as long as the enemies aren’t the right kind of enemies like Coronation Street editors and UNISON hospital porters. All clear so far? When are the Tory apologies to O’Donnell going to show up – they thought he was biased against them….
Further, interesting subplot – Brown told Peter Mandelson his phone might have been compromised. Mandelson asked the Information Commissioner, who had nothing to say. Of course he didn’t – as far as I know he had nothing to do with the case. If Mandelson had wanted to know, he needed to ask the police. Was Mandelson trying not to find out, so as not to burn his bridges with the Murdochs? Or was he just ill-informed?
Also, did the central government have any communications security at all? Did CESG or MI5 not have anything at all to say about this? Didn’t any of them just change their damn password, or even change their damn number?