03 October 2008 1:54 PM
One day the truth about McBride will out
Benedict Brogan Blog.
When the Day of Reckoning comes and those of us who know are free to say what we know, Damian McBride will emerge with great credit from the madness of the past few years. His departure was a necessity forced on Gordon Brown, part of the price a weakened Prime Minister has had to pay to buy off his enemies. It became inevitable following the events in Manchester and that bizarre night when Ruth Kelly confirmed she was quitting (two little known facts from those small hours: it was Ms Kelly herself who did most of the significant briefing; and McBride was sober). When the cry went up that there had to be changes in No10, what they meant was McBride had to go. By the time we left Manchester he was being blamed for everything, including the credit crunch and the disappearance of Shergar. Such was his influence that like Macavity his prints were seen on every bit of damaging briefing. It became easy to blame him for every transgression, real or imagined. In fact, he was a victim of his own success. Damian is many things, but not an innocent. His role, by its nature, involved bad business at the crossroads.
But the McPoison of caricature is just that. There is far more to him than most realise. Few can match him for political insight, mischief making exuberance, stamina or that see-round-a-corner skill that few in politics possess. His intelligence was always Grade A, whether it was on election outcomes or how power was flowing. The Tories certainly have nothing like him, save perhaps George Osborne.
What does his departure mean for Gordon Brown? McBride remains in No10 as an adviser on long-term strategy. The PM will continue to have him to hand. But his enemies will be on the look-out for signs that he is still speaking to the likes of me, so I don't expect him to return phone calls for a while. Which means the PM will be without the best media handler he's had. We'll miss the service, not to mention the in-flight quizzes, and perhaps that's no bad thing. He may wonder whether it was wise to give up a high-flier's career in the Civil Service to run away with this circus. Of course, I'm an unreliable witness. But I'm certain of this: you will read a lot in the coming days about Damian McBride, and you shouldn't believe more than a fraction of it. The true story is far better.
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