The Blairites bite back

Turns out the mystery story is a Cherie Blair interview being run jointly by The Sun and The Times. The Sun promises to run the “bomshell” interview on its website at midnight. Andrew Pierce (an expert at nicking rivals’ scoops) has the lowdown in the Telegraph – Tony Blair censored his wife’s book, he says, so she’s letting rip in an interview instead. But the extracts suggest even this is far from bilious. Knowing Cherie, all will have all come at a price – hence the expectation and secrecy. You might say: so what, we all know Cherie hates Gordon. But to my mind, there is greater significance of this in the timing. The book was’t due out till Christmas – why the interview now? When Brown is so weak? Combined with the Stephen Byers article which I hear is being planned for one of the Sundays, this does look like the Blairites hitting back in a co-ordinated attack.