Gordon Brown (second left) with (l-r) Les
Hinton, the chairman of News
International, Murdoch McLennan, the
chief executive of the Telegraph Group,
and Lord Rothermere, today.
Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty
Well, it's not a headline a political correspondent gets to write every day of the week.
But today the chancellor broke off from wooing the City to move a mile or so westward, unveiling a plaque to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Newspaper Publishing Assocation on Fleet Street.
He also read a verse from Ecclesiasticus at the spiritual home of the Fourth Estate, St Bride's Church on Fleet Street (a few hundred metres from the Guardian on Farringdon Road.)
Murdoch MacLennan, chief executive of the Telegraph Group, told the gathering: "It's up to us to fight to secure the future of our newspapers. That task is more difficult now than it has ever been before. You're all fired."
Actually, I made the last bit up - but the Telegraph has just sacked 54 journalists on top of a further 90-odd it made redundant last year.
Actually, as is typical of politicians' photo-opportunities, all was not as it seemed. The plaque Mr Brown unveiled will only be erected at a later date. But as we hacks say, why let the facts get in the way of a good blog?
