ePolitix.com - Week on the web

It was the week Gordon's GOATs got him into trouble. As with much of what was seen as new and praiseworthy in the summer (see also 'promising to tell Parliament first'), appointing a 'government of all the talents' now appears to have backfired badly.

The current problems began with a Spectator article last week which turned the spotlight on Lord Malloch-Brown and his Admiralty Arch flat.

The former UN diplomat had already put his foot in it in July with his now infamous "wise eminence" interview in the Telegraph and appeared to be engaged in what must, for Downing Street, have been a welcome period of silence.

But the Spectator's suggestion that the prime minister was regretting the appointment forced first his spokesman and then Brown himself to offer what Ben Brogan said was an "ominous" vote of confidence.

At a press gallery lunch, David Miliband sought to make light of the fuss, by joking that he was going to record a duet with his junior minister.

On the subject on politicians in song, Comment Central had a top five list this week, which amazingly managed to miss out John Ashcroft in the US and the unforgettable Peter Lilley slightly closer to home.

Like buses, it seems bad GOAT news stories come in twos (if not threes), for on Wednesday it was the turn of Lord West to undermine Number 10.

Nick Robinson has the story of how the self-described "simple sailor" miraculously managed to change his views on pre-charge detention in little more than an hour. Number 10 maintained that a private meeting with the prime minister had nothing to do with it, a suggestion met with as many sniggers in the lobby as his support for anti-bullying projects later in the week.

As someone also "unconvinced about the need for an extension", Daniel Finklestein was keen to know what Brown had said, but concluded it must have been "brute force rather than persuasion". "If so, that finally does it for me and the idea of extending beyond 28 days," he said.

Paul Linford surmises that there is "no substitute for experience". But Lord West was not the only Home Office minister in hot water this week.

His boss the home secretary was exposed in the Daily Mail as having sat on information that illegal immigrants were cleared to work in key security jobs.

Finklestein was first to ask the question "when did Gordon know?" that occupied David Cameron at PMQs, the ever-modern Tory leader taking his lead from the blogs.

As if all this was not enough trouble for Brown, several blogs linked this week to a small item in the FT expressing serious civil service disquiet with his premiership. The pick-up on Guido, Ben Brogan and Finklestein's sites was a good example of the blogs giving a story much wider circulation than traditional media allows.

Yet while "Gordon Brown may have faults", Lawrence Donegan noted on the Guardian sport blog, "no one can accuse him of indolence". "As if bank crises and trying to keep the earth spinning on its axis while George Bush still roams free wasn't enough trouble for any man, the prime minister has now embarked on a mission to give British football back to British footballers."

Stumbling and Mumbling also has it own sardonic take on the subject which points out: "There are many foreign players in the Premiership because English footballers aren't good enough." A point the CBI made about businesses in the rest of the economy.

David Cameron wasn't getting away entirely scot-free however. His plan to force town halls to put council tax rises to referendums got a less than welcome write-up on the blogs.

And then there were the first rumblings of discontent over Boris Johnson's London mayoral campaign (or lack thereof).

Regents Park Labour noted that while the Henley MP had a "six week campaign gap" in his diary, Ken Livingstone's supporters had been busy building their own website.

The London 2008 line-up was also completed this week with the election of Brian Paddick as the Lib Dem candidate. His, as yet undeveloped, site can be found here.

Meanwhile Guido brought us the news that Tony Blair has got his website up and running. It's been built by Messy Media, creators of the Westmonster, which this week revealed that the former prime minister's former school has put on a less-than-flattering play about him. Don't expect Fettes to be getting much of his sports foundation's money.

On the Independent's new Open House blog (which gets a less than flattering review from the aforementioned Mr Fawkes), John Rentoul reveals what Blair had to say about Miliband being his "natural heir".

The foreign secretary may be the best-known blogging minister, but Tom Watson remains the original and best. This week the whip has been winding up Iain Dale, eventually producing an admission that the Tory has thrown his hat into the ring to replace Ann Widdecombe in Maidstone.

Talking of Dale, Kerron Cross highlights the kind of double standards-style trouble that Dale's blog might get him into as an MP.

Finally, Alex Salmond has had a bit of a hard time over his Scottish budget. But at least it's being taken a bit more seriously than the Northern Ireland Assembly's equivalent.

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