As calls mount for Margaret Hodge to resign as Minister for Children, the Guardian predictably rides to the rescue of its sister-in arms. Ms Hodge, faced with a renewal of the charges over her past history as a council leader who had ignored evidence of paedophile abuse of children in her authority's care, tried to bully the BBC into silence and smear an abuse victim who had accused her of ducking her responsibility (see my article this week, 'The Minister for Child Abuse').

The Guardian, of course, has always lectured and hectored about the evils of child abuse. So might one expect it to take an exceedingly dim view of Ms Hodge's behaviour? Might one expect it to agree that to have made such a person Minister for Children in the first place was an astonishing piece of cynicism? Dream on. The Grauniad pins the blame instead on...you guessed it, 'parts of the media' for being 'out to get' poor beleaguered Margaret. She should merely have been 'particularly careful' in how she handled media inquiries; she had 'not handled this issue well'; and the BBC was right to report it all. But...she should not resign because 'she should be judged on her current performance'.

That, of course, is exactly why she should resign. Anyone not wearing the Guardian's hard-left solidarity blinkers can see this illuminated in neon lights above Tony Blair's head.

Posted by melanie at November 13, 2003