Why Brown apologised now

The question of the timing of Brown’s apology is one of those rare moments when I find myself disagreeing with Pete. The obvious political thing to do would have been for Brown to say sorry on Thursday night, framing the way that the rest of the media would follow up on the Telegraph’s mega-scoop. But Brown central thought the PM had been treated unfairly by the Telegraph and weren’t going to apologise because that could have been taken to imply that his own cleaning arrangements were something he should say sorry for. Now after the Sunday Telegraph’s leader yesterday and his sister-in-law’s piece in The Guardian today, Brown clearly feels he can apologise without being seen to admit any wrongdoing on his part. However, Brown’s apology has actually helped the Tories by shifting the spotlight off them and on to him.