Hansard cleans up

Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth has reputedly had to be censored by Hansard after saying "bollocks" during a parliamentary debate.

Of course, he is not the first holder of his post to have to rely on the good old Parliamentary Reporters to come to his rescue in such circumstances.

Is Gordon Brown a Thatcherite?

Join the debate over at Liberal Conspiracy.

The only way is down

Little time tonight for any more detailed blogging on the Peter Hain story but I've not departed from my view that the real reason he's finished is because he spent 200 grand coming fifth behind Harriet Harman in the deputy leadership contest. However things pan out with the donations story, Hain has been living on borrowed political time ever since that dismal result and the only way is down from now on.

Justin McKeating expresses this rather more bluntly, on Chicken Yoghurt:

"Two hundred grand to be beaten in a popularity contest by Harriet bloody Harman? If I was him, I wouldn't be wondering if it was worth carrying on in politics, I'd be pondering whether it was worth carrying on living."

I also strongly agree with James Forsyth on Coffee House that Brown's attempt to dress-up this morning's Sun article as a "vote of confidence" when in reality he has left Hain swinging in the wind hardly shows the Prime Minister in his best light.

As I have previously advocated, if he showed some decisiveness, fired Hain and offered his job to Alan Milburn, he could yet salvage something from this situation.