Are Labour's anonymous briefings coming back to haunt them?

Well, I can't say I'm surprised. Members of the blogosphere and the Conservative shadow defence secretary Liam Fox are accusing Labour defence officials of preparing anonymous briefings against General Sir Richard Dannatt, outgoing Army Chief.

In today's Daily Mail, the newspaper quotes 'Labour backbenchers' who believe that Sir Richard will attack the government for its failings in Afghanistan once he retires in a few days time. Sir Richard has already been loud in his requests for more equipment for British servicemen deployed overseas, and Labour MP's and Ministers are concerned that his criticism will become more biting once he retires.

Labour Party Ministers, naturally, deny there is any campaign of briefing against Sir Richard. However, no-one seems to believe them. The reason for this is because Labour has anonymously briefed against everyone for so long (even against their own MP's and Ministers) that no-one is willing to give them the benefit of the doubt when they deny it now. In a similar vein Political Betting has an excellent post on whether the day the Labour Government 'died' was the day the Damien McBride smear tactics came to light. It appears that smearing has become Labour's 'sleaze', that issue that is entirely non-political and has no impact on a Government's ability to govern, yet turns off voters and gives a Government a feeling of having been around too long.