Anthony Barnett (London, OK): As Tony Blair got into the car to drive to the Palace to resign, Cherie Blair accompanied him and got into the car on the far-side which meant the door nearest the camera, and as she did so, looked over to the massed ranks of the press and media and said, "Goodbye. I don't think we'll miss you".You can see the link from Nick Robinson's blog, he is the BBC's senior political editor. His reaction to Cherie's remark was, "Extraordinary", and then he continues, "Gob-smackingly spine-chillingly hair-raisingly extraordinary".
You might have thought that her remark was banal. Who wants the feral press standing in wait for them every time they leave the front door? Robinson's explanation is, "Tony Blair planned to say nothing as he left Downing Street for the last time, but his carefully laid plans were once again torn up by his wife".
Has Mr Robinson got a news story? Are we supposed to be shocked at the news that Blair did not want to go but was forced to? Well, we have known this since September. No, the shock, that is
gob-smacking
spine chilling
hair-raising
is nothing whatever to do with the news. What Cherie has done wrong is to be frank to the media! Shock, I'd say so, she has even been honest with the media. This is something "That should not be done".
For the BBC's political editor, what the Prime Minister's wife has done is today's equivalent of lèse-majesté. She dares to say that she dislikes those who tell the story. Bad form, spine-chilling behaviour. She ought to have had a stiff upper lip and take the humiliation with submission. Instead, as the gob-smacked, hair-raised Robinson describes it, "she looked directly into the cameras just feet away from her and spoke - not whispered, not mouthed - the following: (watch for yourself here)".
You see! You see for yourself. She does not like us! It's out of order, it's spine-chilling.
No, it's not rubbish. Our spine should be chilled. Not by what Cherie did but by the media telling us that whatever Gordon may be doing with the Queen, it is they who rule and Nick the First who is the king.
