Spinning out of control

· topicality ·

We've just been watching Jon Snow on Channel 4 news interviewing Alastair Campbell. For those of you not based in the UK, Campbell — an un-elected Press Secretary for the Labour party — is complaining loudly about the neutrality of the BBC and their defence correspondent, Andrew Gilligan. Gilligan reported that souces inside the intelligence service were unhappy about the Iraq dossier being beefed up (or 'sexed up' as the media seems to have it) with some rather dodgy information at the last minute, to make the case for war stronger.

Alastair Campbell seems to be acting like a complete bully over this. If he's so sure that the report was inaccurate, why doesn't he sue the BBC for libel? Perhaps because he knows that the case wouldn't stand up in court. He even said that the 'file on that correspondent is growing'. What's that — a threat? "I'll set MI5 on you."

All through the interview, we were shouting at the TV, urging Jon Snow on: "Get 'im, Jon, go on!" How Jon Snow stopped himself actually hitting Alastair Campbell is beyond me.