The difficulty with great political stories can often be deciding what the real story is. Take the Guardian’s authentic scoop over the government’s embryo immigration policy. Here, last week, were plans in writing, rather than Commons blah. Here was British business up in arms.
But there was, of course, a second, and perhaps even more telling, story to be told. Even the Daily Mail, in its high excitement, had to report that this draft – commissioned by Mrs May – was merely “work in progress”. The Times immediately reported that the plan “had not been discussed by the full cabinet”, and, indeed, seemed to have passed Britain’s actual immigration minister by. “Some 15 months after the referendum, Brexit still divides the cabinet into two camps.” The Telegraph saw May’s plans “in disarray”.
So, was the point of the story that Theresa had got a hard immigration exit coming down the slipway – or that HMG was still riven and squabbling over the whole damned thing?
Remember how, last July, Tim Shipman in the Sunday Times revealed that Philip Hammond had described public-sector workers as “overpaid” in a cabinet meeting. That was a story: but so was the fact that five senior ministers had confirmed Hammond’s boob before publication. Continuing shambles at the top. The ultimate challenge for Bell Pottinger, perhaps.
At least things look a little calmer, almost insouciant, over the channel. Angela Merkel and her main election rival had 90 minutes of TV debate last week. And how many minutes of Brexit? Not even a second.
