In some ways, Gordon Brown’s absurd speech yesterday evening felt like the crest of a wave. It’s not that the phone hacking scandal has gone away — far from it. But the initial surge of political activity and spite has abated, having achieved many of its immediate goals: the end of the BSkyB bid, a judge-led inquiry, and so on. Now, our politicians are entering the second phase of this crisis, which will be more about the wider picture and less about News International specifically.
There was a hint of this in Nick Clegg’s interview with the Today programme earlier, a preview of a speech he is delivering later today. The Lib Dem leader admitted that he sees the phone hacking scandal as an “opportunity” to “clean things up” more generally. But it’s clear that he also regards it as an opportunity to seize back the insurgent’s mantle that his party wore during the election campaign.
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