It's Just A Harmless Bit Of Spin

I simply can't work out what all the fuss is about. All poor Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury (recent judged seventh worst place to live in the UK out of 434 local authorities) did was to make a good document even better by adding a bit to it. The sort of thing I do almost every day.

The fact that she inserted a quote from herself into an Electoral Commission press release and thereby made it look as if the quote was an official one was hardly a hanging offence, despite the attempts of Trotskyites at the BBC to smear her reputation over the matter. I mean to say, it was no worse than when Gordon Brown said "Luke Akehurst is a model Labour Councillor who deserves the backing of all Hackney residents" the other day. Or didn't. But, of course, he would have said that, had I been advising him on his PR.

Anyway, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Sir Philip Mawer said that although "her action had been unwise and unfortunate", it had not breached the code of conduct as there had been "no intention... to deceive the public".

Quite right too. There's absolutely nothing wrong with committing (alleged) forgery and deception as long as it's in the interests of the public (and the Party). Sir Philip Mawer (127) retires in December and can be expected to take up a vacant seat in the House of Lords if we can find him one.