Oh dear | 7 October 2009

Chris Grayling hopes that General Sir Richard Dannatt’s prospective ministerial appointment is not a “political gimmick” designed to boost Gordon Brown’s profile. He said:

“I’m always suspicous of government’s motives when it does things like this.”

The poor man hasn’t grasped that it’s David Cameron who is wooing General Dannatt as a potential minister. Grayling has since laughed off the gaffe, but really. The fact that Emily Maitliss started the interview with: “General Dannatt is lined up to be a junior Defence Minister in a future CONSERVATIVE government,” ought to have alerted Grayling that this was not attack-dog territory. Quite how Maitliss didn’t collapse with laughter defeats me.

PS. Will Heaven and several Coffee Housers suggest that this episode says much about the Tories’ communication and the dominance of Cameron’s inner circle. I think that overstates it. Cameron spoke about Dannatt on TV prior to Grayling’s gaffe, and General Dannatt was paraded all over The Sun yesterday.