Nick Robinson now feels he can tell us what was going on between Blair and Brown.
 | | |
| Quote: • Tony Blair blamed Gordon Brown for starting the cash for honours row which led to the first ever police investigation into a serving prime minister • Gordon Brown threatened to trigger that row if he didn't get his way on a policy which affects the pensions of millions of voters • Mr Blair did renege on a deal to stand down before the 2005 election • He did not sack Gordon Brown because he believed that "let loose" he might lead a left wing rebellion • The PM turned to drink to deal with the stress of dealing with someone he regarded as "very very difficult" and "maddening" • Tony Blair knew that Gordon Brown would be a hopeless prime minister | |
| | |
The telling bit from this article is this statement from Robinson:
| | |
| Quote: I now accept that I made mistakes. Things were worse - much worse - than I reflected at the time. I did not report then but now can | |
| | |
Which shows how much reporters are scared of upsetting their subjects. If he had reported them at the time, he, and no doubt the BBC, would be left out in the cold at news briefings. So Robinson kept his mouth shut. If he had reported these problems at the time, he would have opened a bigger can of worms than Robert Peston did when the credit crunch started to bite.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson ... brown.html
