Storm in a Thimble

The Miliband family must, in lighter moments, be laughing their socks off at the ludicrous coverage in the Mail and Telegraph over the last few days.

The 'exclusives' are far from revealing; David was disappointed at not winning the leadership, we learn; Ed looked up to his brother for years, apparently. It just paints a picture of what we already know just written in painfully dramatic prose. None of the quotes I have read are attributable; some are not even quotes. Friends of, insiders say, a confidante reports are the familiar tools of lazy sensationalist journalism. It's not even that; it's what I would call hackcraft.

The Telegraph tied to elevate this invented fraternal tension ("treachery!") to the level of a Brown/Blair feud by releasing leaked papers from Ed Balls' Government days at DoE (Tory Ministers beware in a few years time). These dismal revelations have been poured over already in books by Andrew Rawnsley as well as diaries by Campbell, Mandelson and Blair himself. It focuses on events in 2005 - so long ago David Blunkett was still Home Sec.

The Mail on Sunday article was as Lord Falconer put it "pretty thin gruel" even exposing the shame that Ed, at University, did not take drink and drugs. Today's Mail has extended this invention as far it can go (shurely?) by claiming David is planning something of a coup against his brother. Putting to one side the strict constitutional Party rules which forbid it, David has left the shadow Cabinet and has no power base. There is also the absence of any suggestion he would want to as well as any MP or peer even considering it as a realistic prospect.

The inspiration behind this string of transparent stories would appear to be the publication of a book and unsuprisingly the authors thought to embellish rather than dish out the boring truth. In a difficult few weeks for the PM the newspaper editors have simply embellished the embellishments.