fantastic bit of pinklabour evasion. party chairman john reid gets grilled (if doesn't work click through from here) over his reponse to leaks from the security services detailing amendments that were made for political reasons to intellegence information. reid had explained the leaks as due to "rogue elements". in other words accusations from intelligence that their info was "sexed" up by downing street spin doctors who needed to sell the war to the punters on the grounds that the threat was imminent are not in fact happening because they are true but because persons in the intelligence agencies in some way have it in for the pm. even the mainstream media has spotted this is just ludicrous.

on the one hand alistair campbell, the pm's pr king (in other words the pm's surrogate testicles/spine etc) has apologised to the intelligence people he has so viciously wound up (his ruthlessness obviously offending their sense of fair play, this from the group that whistle blower david shayler allegedly plotted to murder colonel gaddaffi...) but on the other he has courageously elected not to appear (that is he has refused to appear) before the foreign affairs select commitee... as has tony...