Such is the viciousness of the briefing about the Labour leadership that it's all too easy to jump to conclusions. It all got very nasty last week, especially when details of a harrassment complaint about health minister Ivan Lewis were leaked. So it was that I found myself in conversation with a former cabinet minister and champion of Gordon Brown about David Cairns, the Scottish Office minister who resigned on Tuesday. This northern bruiser whispered down the phone: "You realise he used to work for Madonna don't you? And you know what that means." I thought this was a new low in the briefing wars. Could he seriously be saying that Cairns shouldn't be taken seriously because he was gay.
When I reported my horror to the NS editorial meeting this morning a kindly soul pointed out that I was possibly reading a little too much into the words of my deep throat: "McDonagh Martin. He meant that Cairns used to work for Siobhain McDonagh."