This is all about Don Tony

Matthew d’Ancona says that the Jowell Affair has revealed the loneliness of New Labour’s once-omnipotent Godfather, as the Cameron and Brown families prepare for their own bloody turf war when he is gone

One evening at dinner with Tessa Jowell and David Mills, Tony Blair spotted an unsightly paint stain outside their Kentish Town house. The Culture Secretary explained that anti-war protesters had discovered her address, and had poured out the paint to signal their disgust. Mr Blair shook his head. ‘Do people really do things like that?’ he asked.

Yes, Prime Minister, they do. But one of the many things he and Ms Jowell have in common is a distaste for ugliness: they like things to be just so, for decorum to be observed. And it baffled Mr Blair that anyone should resort to such vulgar behaviour to make a political point, even when the issue was one as divisive as the Iraq war.