In the Loop but out of touch

I went to see In the Loop last night, a romp around New Labour spin doctors. Thin plot, thin skeleton to hang some very funny jokes.

It’s a pity in a way, because it over simplifies the spin doctory. It isn’t all ‘attack dog’ and ‘filth’.

There is also a very sophisticated subjugation of truth, and capacity to get good material out too.

It gave us the Iraq War, it gave us the rumour that Gordon Brown was ‘psychologically flawed’ courtesy of a Blair era spinner, and much else.

But what is being missed in the post-Damian McBride (“despicable” emails – quote Ed Balls) furore is that the life of the spin doctor is vastly enhanced by the Westminster lobby system.

Andrew Thomas interviews Peter Capaldi, who stars as Malcolm Tucker in In The Loop. This interview contains language that some viewers may find offensive.

Every working day, and sometimes more often, journalists gather in a place we may not identify, at a time we may not mention, and listen to a Downing Street operative we may not name.

The true nature and content of these sessions is kept secret from readers, listeners and viewers alike.

Instead the spinning is dressed up in terms like ‘Whitehall sources’, Westminster sources’, ‘informed circles’, and the rest.

Two newspapers – the Independent and the Guardian – have both tried to smash the lobby system and failed.

For years the ‘lobby’ has known about Damian McBride as they knew about others before him, Tory and labour alike.

It sits uncomfortably in an age in which the media call for openness.

One can hope that the web will destroy the lobby. Before it does, we should all be prepared to call a halt.