We have heard on good authority that Damian McBride, the prime minister’s controversial press adviser, will now be taking a back seat. He will remain at No 10 and continue to advise the PM.
But the official spin doctor job is going to Justin Forsyth, special adviser to the PM on international development. Forsyth is an expert on poverty, having previously been campaign and policy director for Oxfam. Incidentally he is said to be a very nice fellow. Not sure he has much experience of dealing with Fleet Street though.
Some MPs rightly or wrongly blame McBride for anonymous briefings against them. For a taste of this:
Decca Aitkenhead in the Guardian this week, describing the Labour conference in Manchester:
“More than a cycle of abuse, it felt like the end of an era. What had begun back in 1994 was turning full circle, the ugly 3am briefing of Ruth Kelly’s resignation in the Midland bar a last ghost of the old Red Lion days of Charlie Whelan. But the self-belief – or Faustian pact – that had once sustained the project had broken down into self-loathing. Forged by spin doctors, the party was still in love with Campbell, even as it dissolved into mutinous rage, spitting at the thuggery of his unlovely successor, “that fucking Damian McBride“.
I wouldn’t presume that McBride will no longer carry on with most of his former duties, however. You may remember that Alastair Campbell stepped back from the front line – but remained at the heart of decisions – when he feared he had become the story.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey
