Finally – Damian McBride provides the Labour confession we’ve been waiting for

‘Drug use; spousal abuse; secret alcoholism; extra-marital affairs. I estimate I did nothing with 95 per cent of the stories I was told. But, yes, some of them ended up on the front pages of Sunday newspapers.’ And with this starts the serialisation of what will be perhaps the most explosive book about British politics for ten years. Damian McBride’s memoirs look every bit as good as I had hoped. The Daily
Mail serialisation today
gives a taste of what should really be called ‘confessions of a political hit man’ – the methods and motives of Team Brown, perhaps most ruthless and effective bunch of character assassins that Westminster has ever seen. I was one of McBride’s targets rather than his clients, so it is from no sense of friendship or loyalty that I say he is something of a genius. Even when sending me an email basically telling me I’d never work in this town again, I admired the quality of his writing and the richness of the content.