Chris Smith: Flood Damage

Following the floods fiasco in Somerset, Daily Mail attack-dog Andrew Pierce was unleashed from his kennel to do a hatchet job on hapless Environment Agency Chris Smith. He had no shortage of material, Lord Smith of Finsbury being gay, socialist, green, an ex-Islington councillor and a luvvie cum laude with a PhD in poetry.

Pierce swiftly bashed out the required 900 words - only for an urgent command to arrive from the 'Eagle's Nest', aka editor Paul Dacre's office on the third floor, instructing newsdesk lackeys to spike the piece. Other Mail columnists were also ordered to steer clear of Smith in their own pieces.

What conceivable reason might Dacre have wanting to keep on the right side of the former culture secretary? The possibility that Lord Smith must be kept sweet at all costs as he's lined up to be appointed chair of IPSO, the new Independent Press Standards Organisation, is of course too silly to contemplate!

Private Eye.

Update: Or does Lord Smith have plans to be the next BBC Chairman?