The post you are reporting:
PaulB - John..... lets face some facts.
Gordon Brown's behaviour has given rise for concern ever since he was in the Treasury.
I commented well over a year ago on this forum about what has been said about Brown.
Just recently we have seen revelations from two former Labour Party insiders about this kind of thing and former Civil Servants have also said the same.
What is so different now is the source, Rawnsley, he is a journalist, one of the very few, who has never been tainted by political bias. If anything he is 'of the left'. He is well respected and has impecible contacts. He is viewed much more seriously even than the Labour insiders because of the tensions and splits within the Labour Government.
Interestingly he provided no10 with a preview of his book in order to maintain his political integrity. As a result of that someone, from no 10, started leaking some extracts from the book several weeks ago. That was to reduce the impact and to rehearse spin lines. Incidentally, they also released inaccurate details about the book, the claim Brown hit someone was actually made up and does not appear in the book. That is an old spin trick in an attempt to devalue the actual release. Hence the statement by Brown saying he never hit anyone, denying something not in the book.....
We see this evening no10 releasing a form of words from spokesmen in an attempt to attempt to deny o'Donnell gave Brown a dressing down. What is interesting is that it came two days after the story was released. If accurate there would have been nothing stopping an immediate denial from o'Donnell himself yesterday or Saturday evening, or even this morning come to that. The time taken for that to be release is in itself instructive and will not discredit that claim.
Then we see a frankly outragous statement from that master of lies Mandelson claiming collusion between the Conservative Party and the charity.
This certainly is not politically motivated. Some revelations from Labour insiders and Civil Servants may be motivated by hatred of Brown, possibly with good reason. Rawnsley though is another matter, his integrity as a journalist is at stake here and his career. Having established his excellent reputation over many years he would not throw it away for one sensationalist book.... He says he has impecible sources and he is to be believed.