An English spinner

Alastair Campbell, 8220;prince of spin8221;, knew a thing or two about surveillance. So pending any further illumination on the matter, we must presumably take most seriously a claim made in his memoir of service as director of communications and strategy to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, The Blair Years. Campbell claims that in October 2001, Blair was in Delhi at the express request of Prime Minister Vajpayee 8212; a request Blair could not resist, given that there was 8220;something almost mystical8221; about him. But when they did arrive in Delhi, Blair8217;s crack security team picked up two bugs in his hotel room. Blair, however, decided to keep it tactful and simply shifted rooms.

Bless the Good Mister Blair! Now we know why they called him Teflon Tony 8212; if they are out to bug you, bug the daylights out them by dodging their bugs. That is high statesmanship, the art of knowing when to take intelligence gathering seriously and when not to. Wish he had passed on the skill to his spin meister. Recall the dodgy dossier on Saddam Hussein8217;s ability to quickly launch weapons of mass destruction, which eventually led to Campbell8217;s departure from 10 Downing Street. That dossier, in a case that kept getting increasingly more murky and tragic, was alleged to have been laced with exaggerations at the behest of Campbell. And as it eventually turned out, no weapons of mass destruction were traced in Saddam8217;s Iraq, and Britain8217;s domestic investigations brought out Campbell8217;s own role in the presentation of intelligence on those WMDs.

The prince of spin says he has specifically left out of his published work anything that could harm Labour8217;s prospects against a resurgent Tory party. So let us step in and make a valid conclusion from his turbulent times at Downing Street: intelligence is so over-rated. But then as Campbell would have added in a more candid avatar, so is spin.