There are 22 articles currently listed on Google News regarding this morning’s Education Select Committee. They all mention the appearance of Rod Bristow, president of Pearson UK. The publishers own the exam board Edexcel, as well as the Financial Times.

While the Telegraph, Times, Guardian, BBC and PA are running with the grilling that Bristow got, there is absolute silence, once again, from the FT’s Education Correspondent Christopher Cook.  It’s not as if he hasn’t been filing copy, a piece by him about other matters went on the website at 3:51 pm. Plenty of time until deadline though…

Well this morning’s story about Ed’s departing joker Ayesha has not gone down well in the Labour Press office.  There was already enough kerfuffle trying to get the line straight before this Freudian slip was spun to us on the record, hastily corrected 5 minutes later:

Ayesha herself has also been on to bend Guido’s ear and deny everything. We’re happy to accept both official denials.

Michael Dugher was until recently Ed Miliband’s PPS, he wants to be “Ed’s Mandelson“ and is clearly keen on enforcing “the line”. However implausible it may be.

RT @MichaelDugherMP If u profess to be Labour commentator but then what u write circulated by CCHQ, do u think yr comments helped Labour?—
Peter Hain (@PeterHain) December 15, 2011

Yesterday’s Post-PMQs collective head-in-hands moment by the left-wing commentariat really has upset the dwindling Miliband true-believers. LabourList editor Mark Ferguson, who yesterday implicitly called for Ayesha Hazariki to be sacked (PMQs Verdict: Cut the Gags, Ed), is only reflecting what the Labour grassroots are saying in private. According to YouGov only 8% of Labour voters think Ed Miliband is a natural leader. Enforcing New Labour style discipline on propaganda isn’t going to change that fact.

With Liam Fox back on the Christmas party scene, his old chum Adam Werritty has popped up in this week’s Speccie, speaking about the whole saga for the first time. Apparently “one man’s ‘clandestine’ meeting is another man’s informed and fascinating discussion”. The whole thing is well worth a read, and there are other gems such as “I’m all for a free press and responsible journalism. But…” Apparently the whole thing was a “storm in a teacup” and  he will spending New Year’s Eve with Liam, and his wife…

Werritty’s side of the story, while interesting, does not really take in the gravity of the situation:

My story starts on an evening in Dubai six months ago when my then girlfriend and I ended up in an American steak house called Ruth’s Chris. Out of the many thousands of eateries in the city, we couldn’t have made a worse choice. Five minutes after we sat down, a British expat businessman named Harvey Boulter arrived on the table opposite us. I’d met him once before, but I had no intention of meeting him on this trip. However, out of politeness I said hello. The rest is history — and a history which I very much regret.

We stayed on after dinner as Boulter wanted to talk to me about Cellcrypt, his mobile phone encryption software technology. When we first met several months earlier, he’d discussed making it available to British troops in Afghanistan, free of charge, to enable them to make free ‘welfare’ calls home. A worthwhile idea, I thought, and one worth supporting. I mentioned to him that I was meeting my friend Liam Fox the next day — he asked if he could talk to Liam about Cellcrypt over a coffee. I passed on his request, and the next day the meeting went ahead. Big mistake. I ought to have left it firmly to official channels to handle. They exist for a reason — specifically, to ensure that full and accurate records of conversations and meetings can be kept.

…

I’ve been asked on several occasions why I didn’t apply to be a special adviser. The answer: I actually know very little about defence policy and have never pretended otherwise. Why should I be paid by the taxpayer for an expertise I didn’t possess?”

That’s not what it said on his business card…

The role of Deputy Party Chairman seems to be forcing Tom Watson further and further from the reality based community. When he’s not paying special close attention to candidate selection, he’s in full spin mode. With the Tories regaining the lead with every major pollster, today was going to be a tricky one, but you can’t fault him for his effort:

Careful you don’t get splinters while you scrape that barrel Tommy…

Ed got the inevitable thrashing at PMQs, though it was clearly worse than they expected. Yesterday Labour media grid was leaked, yet today we can see that they’ve had to throw it out of the window after a dire morning. The faces lined up for the media today were Harman, Chuka Umunna and Ed Miliband, yet Balls had to be sent to Millbank to clean up immediately after Ed’s defeat. How bad must it be when Blinky is the mop-up man… 

Credit where credit is due, so kudos to Sam Coates of the Times for getting hold of Ed’s media grid for this week. Much has been said about the amateur feel of Miliband’s media operation, but nobody had quite realised how bad it was until the written proof emerged. The same message is hammered everyday without deviation, but with plenty of repetition. An opposition needs more than one vacuous, non-costed, promise a day. Only a handful of faces are allowed a look in, though Guido is looking forward to who the “weekend guests” might be.

One thing that did amuse was the assumption that Labour will win on Thursday’s Heathrow airport by-election. The visit is already planned in for the next day. It somewhat undermines the whole “every vote counts, not taking anything for granted” message. An all round PR disaster. 

It seems Clegg is taking this fake row thing a little too far…

UPDATE: Cleggies tell the Sun that Nick doesn’t “want to be a distraction”. Yeah right…

When doorstepped this morning, Vince Cable ruled out resigning saying: ”I’m just getting on with my job as I always do.” So he limps on to fight, and lose, another day, but that’s not to say he hasn’t been banging his steel mug against the bars of his cell this weekend. With Clegg initially saying he was behind the national interest, Cable’s voice on the outside, also known as the spectacularly irritating Matthew Oakeshott, was deployed to stir things up.

The Observer reported: “One of Vince Cable’s closest allies, Lord Oakeshott, has refused to rule out a possible resignation by the business secretary. Cable’s comrade Will Hutton had clearly had a direct earful too: “He will speak out aggressively against Cameron’s veto; his decision is whether to resign to do so or say so in office, courting his sacking.” Will Hutton being wrong about something comes as no surprise, but him making something up would. Yet again Cable has clearly threatened that often cited nuclear bomb, yet failed to push the button. When push comes to shove, he’s yellow to his core…

The Leveson Show Trials have a busy day and first up it’s notorious former News of the World stinger Mazher Mahmood:

He’s been given the full black-out screen for his evidence today. Not round these parts though…