Joining the Dots

A follow up to yesterday's post about the outing of Mark Oaten by the News Of The World. Having thought about this, I've decided to go a little further than a vague deniable insinuation.

Here are the dots.

Mark Oaten's indiscretion was revealed by the News Of The World (via), the Sunday edition of the Sun (the Murdoch owned Sun is, of course, famous for it's rather unhealthy relationship with the prime minister.) At the risk of sounding like a patronising arse, I suspect it's fair to say that most NOTW readers will read the story and go "Mark who?". Oaten's scalp is hardly high profile (do your own baldy joke). This has led some to question what the point of this outing is. It seems unlikely that it'll generate much in the way of a boost in sales.

Oaten was the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman. He, along with David Davis for the Conservatives, refused to give in to the government/Sun bullyboy tactics over the 90 days without charge proposal.

You might remember that before it was put to the vote he said "the home secretary should act now to amend this illiberal and dangerous piece of legislation". Or you might not remember. Oaten's role in Blair's blackest day might have already been forgotten by most people in the country. That he was once high on the Sun's list of traitors may also be forgotten.

I tell you what though. I bet I can name at least two other people in this country who do remember. Can you guess? OK, here's a clue. Their initials are TB and RW.

Now to me, joining these dots seems to reveal a picture of something very nasty indeed. As a self confessed cynic, and Lib Dem voter, it's hard to say whether I'm being objective about this. Was this a hatchet job driven by a desire for revenge? Or should I order the bacofoil baseball cap?

Tags: News, Politics, Mark Oaten, Liberal Democrats, Mad Dog Murdoch