A 'Brownlie' uncovered

Gordon Brown is quite happy to just open his mouth, drop his jaw, and let the lies pour out.

Oh yes, he'll say whatever he feels is necessary in the circumstances, blissfully regardless of its veracity. You can tell he's lying when you spot his lips moving.

Most of the time, thanks to supine journalists and a public with the attention span of a teeny tiny kitten, he gets clean away with it.

However, we seem to have something here. Just try to reconcile these fragments from around the web, would you?

From the Daily Telegraph blog of Alex Singleton we get the following:

"A Downing Street staff member, I can reveal, has leaked just how close Gordon Brown and Damian McBride remain."

"Before Mr Brown appeared on the Andrew Marr Show on May 31, he discussed his lines with Mr McBride by text message. This surely puts him at the heart of Gordon Brown's inner circle."

In 'The Scotsman', a story on the 14th of June, entitled McBride 'back working for Government' has this:

"Just weeks after McBride was forced to resign after writing an e-mail suggesting that Conservative leaders be smeared, insiders say the former special adviser is actively working for ministers again ... one respected party figure said that while the former adviser was not working at Number 10, he was engaged in informal briefings once again."

And in the Hansard coverage of PMQ's this Wednesday, we read:

Mr. Lee Scott (Ilford, North) (Con): Will the Prime Minister tell the House whether the Government have received any informal briefings from Damian McBride?

The Prime Minister: I have not.

The smell you can smell, people, is that of burning pants..


(Hat-tip to 'Mark Reckons')