Did David Laws have to jump, or did we push him?

In the world of political commentary, to quote Enoch Powell’s dictum that for politicians to complain about the press is like ships’ captains complaining about the sea has become almost tedious. But the brisk finality of that remark is too useful to dispense with. Is it, though, correct? Observing the awful story of David Laws’s resignation unfolding over last weekend has caused me to question whether Powell’s really is the last word on the subject.

On one thing Powell was right: it is not for politicians to complain. That Mr Laws has not complained (and, I think, genuinely doesn’t complain) has made him the more admirable, and admired.

But what Powell did not say is that the world of political commentary is a world in which judgments like ‘fair’ or ‘unfair’ have no place. We are apt to speak, we Westminster-watchers, as though the media judgment were simply force majeure, in whose presence all are helpless.