Andrew Pierce has written a piece for the Telegraph today about Derek Draper's apology for the racism jibe against me.
Mr Draper wrote: "While I do think it is right that we hold our opponents accountable our tone has sometimes been wrong. On the specifics of Iain Dale I do think he should have condemned Carol Thatcher when she used the term Golliwog but I have never said he was a racist. "From what I know – and hear of him – I don´t believe him to be prejudiced at all, and actually a rather decent guy, just wrong about that particular issue. If I ever suggested other than that I apologise to him too." Mr Dale has now lodged a Freedom of Information request with the Cabinet Office to try to establish whether Mr McBride was directly involved in the smearing of his reputation on the LabourList web site. He said: "I was told the whole thing had been dreamt up in Downing Street to try to destroy my reputation as a blogger. In effect, Damian McBride sent an email to Derek Draper giving him his orders on how to smear me. Some say that Mr McBride wrote the blog himself."
For what it is worth, I accept his apology. I think it is now dawning on Derek just what he has done and that his position as editor of LabourList is now increasingly untenable. He says he will make a decision on his future after a week of reflection. I hesitate to offer him friendly advice, but he should decide soon, because any delay merely keeps the story alive.
