Earlier this week Iain Dale chose not to join blogs like ConservativeHome in criticising Derek Conway. That was an honourable decision because, as Iain said at the time, he is a friend of Derek Conway and "Anything I have to say about his conduct, I will say to his face." In the ‘Heffer confronted’ video above Iain’s position has migrated and he’s now defending Derek Conway – dismissing the thrust of the disgraced MP’s errors as "administrative". Iain must be one of the few people in the country who do not believe that Mr Conway’s errors are much more serious than that.
One MP told ConservativeHome (rather too colourfully) that Derek Conway was like a suicide bomber in the midst of the parliamentary Conservative Party. He hadn’t only wrecked his own career but had badly contaminated the reputation of all Tory MPs and had gifted Gordon Brown his biggest break since Bottler Saturday. Iain Dale is a great blogger but Simon Heffer gets the better of him in the exchange above.