The Hindu : Blair in row with media over royal funeral

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 16, 2002

International

International

Blair in row with media over royal funeral

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON JUNE 15. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his powerful media adviser, Alistair Campbell, famous for his combative approach to news management, are caught up in what is turning out to be a most ugly row between Downing Street and journalists over an incident that went almost unnoticed when it was first reported.

What started off as a gossip item in The Daily Telegraph alleging attempts by Downing Street to "enhance" Mr. Blair's role at the queen mother's funeral two months ago exploded into a full-blown political controversy after three other pro-Tory publications — The Spectator, The Mail on Sunday and the London Evening Standard — went to town with more detailed versions of it.

They said Mr. Blair tried to "muscle in" and "hijack" the queen mother's funeral by seeking a more prominent role at the function such as receiving the coffin when it arrived at Westminster Hall in the full glare of TV cameras.

This, it was stated, was consistent with Mr. Blair's "penchant" for publicity — a charge which Downing Street furiously denied accusing the Tory press of trying to "destabilise" the Government by sensationalising "trivial" issues.

All that had happened, according to the Prime Minister's Office, was that a call was made to a senior palace official seeking to clarify what Mr. Blair was "expected" to do at the funeral and once that was clarified it was the end of the matter.

Not content with merely rebutting the story, Downing Street made what even government supporters acknowledge was a "fatal" mistake.

It dragged the "offending" publications to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) which sensed that there was more to the story than the Prime Minister's Office suggested and advised it to drop the complaint as, given the contradictory claims, "the PCC will never be in a position to ascertain the facts and this issue will remain a matter largely of interpretation."

Downing Street agreed, provoking glee in media circles with newspapers calling it a "retreat" and a vindication of their allegation.

An embarrassed Labour party turned its wrath on Mr. Campbell as it had been his decision to approach the PCC. Senior party figures blamed him for drawing attention to a story which, they said, would have died a natural death if he had not gone to the PCC.

In the past two days, there have been demands for his resignation with critics saying that his style is damaging the Government's credibility — most starkly exemplified by the latest controversy.

Mr. Blair, however, is sticking by him and, on Friday, in a rare public display of anger hit back at the media, accusing it of making "false and serious allegations''.

"The allegation that I tried to muscle in or hijack the queen mother's funeral is as offensive as it is completely and totally untrue," he said pointing out sarcastically that there were "1001 more important issues for me to concern myself with as Prime Minister".

But as there is no sign of the media-feeding frenzy dying down.

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