BBC's Political Editor in eyebrows shock

This morning on the Today Programme, Ed Balls tried to distance himself from Mad Dog McBride, variously described by some of his colleagues in the Politburo as 'a junior civil servant' and 'a junior adviser'. Balls asks us to believe that he barely knew the bloke, yer onner, only dimly remembering him as a fairly efficient press office on matters economic. Up next, the BBC's Political Editor, home from his Easter holiday.

I have to say my eyebrows shot to the ceiling when I heard that clip. Damian McBride wasn't 'one of hundreds of people who work in Downing Street' as some ministers have suggested. He was the closest media adviser to the Prime Minister for many, many years, and he was known extraordinarily well by Ed Balls, was a close ally of his, and was keen to promote stories that helped Ed Balls, not just stories that helped Gordon Brown, and they knew what, politically, he was about. They may not have known every detail of what he did... those emails... but they knew his style, they liked his style, they employed him, they worked with him, and any attempt to suggest they didn't won't succeed.

My emphasis. Click the image to go to the BBC Today Programme website to hear Balls and Robinson.