Hain Rumbles On

So now we have Hain the 'committed' campaigner for Labour Party office. So committed, in fact, that he was too busy concentrating on his cabinet jobs to take much interest in the financing of his campaign. And, of course, he has 'done nothing wrong' and has 'nothing to hide'. Well, nearly nothing. His late disclosures were not done without much media pressure, and we still know litle of the relationship between him and the mysterious think tank, Progressive Policy Forum. It has apparently done little actual thinking, but that seems to be de rigeur for anyone or anything connected to Peter Hain at the moment.

Nick Clegg made a good point this morning - either Hain is incompetent to an extraordinary degree, or he is indeed guilty of obfuscation. Neither accusation renders him able to credibly carry on as a minister of the Crown, and it is to the discredit of the opposition parties that they have not been calling for his resignation. Are they really enfeebled by the possibility that they themselves have unclean hands?

The Fawkes blog provides a forensic dismissal of Hain's pleadings of innocence, while blogger Iain Dale points up the hypocrisy of Hain's position with his reminder of the departmental campaign that Hain heads up to the public - 'No Ifs, No Buts'. Take your own advice, Mr. Hain.