It's not the scandal, it's the cover-up – or, in William Hague's case, the non-scandal. The statement issued by the FCO on Monday claiming that the Foreign Secretary's relationship with Chrisopher Myers was a "purely professional one" failed to kill off the story so a second one was released yesterday, this time by Hague himself, revealing that Myers had now resigned. The second statement also disclosed that Ffion Hague, the Foreign Secretary's wife, had had a series of miscarriages, presumably in the hope of killing off any speculation that Myers's resignation meant his relationship with his boss wasn't "purely professional" after all.
If Hague and his advisers were hoping that yesterday would be a good day to release bad news because of the publication of Tony Blair's memoirs they were mistaken. The new revelations only served to give the story legs, as today's front pages reveal. That's a double whammy for the Coalition. Not only has Hague's mishandling of the affair resulted in promoting the story to the front pages, it's taking up vital space that would otherwise be devoted to the continuing civil war between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. (To read more, click here.)
