BRITISH politics has been damaged this week. I am of course referring to 'smeargate', 'the Damian McBride revelations' – whatever you want to call it.
Why has British politics been damaged? Because people might conclude that all politics is like this.
When it emerged that special adviser Mr McBride had sent an email containing a series of lurid suggestions about senior Conservative politicians
, some people initially dismissed it as a juvenile act by a No 10 worker.
The reality was that Mr McBride was not a peripheral figure. He was personally appointed by Gordon Brown, was directly responsible to him and has for some years effectively been his right-hand man. He was also paid for by the taxpayer. Not for nothing was McBride universally known around Westminster as 'McPoison'.
And the emails, rather than being juvenile, contained malicious and completely invented slurs that were meant to damage individual politicians. Not only that but MPs' families were also considered fair game.
It is not just the machinations of No 10 that have been put in the spotlight. People could be forgiven for believing that 'they're all at it'.
This is an understandable reaction – but wrong.
I first entered the House of Commons 26 years ago – incidentally the same day as Gordon Brown. The vast, vast majority of my colleagues, whatever benches they happen to sit on, have come into politics for admirable reasons – to improve society and the lives of future generations.
I've held various front bench roles in Government and in Opposition and as far as my opposite numbers have been concerned, our working relationships have generally been based on mutual respect.
With the others, we oppose each other at the despatch box and believe that our own parties should be in power – but our debates are focused on ideas and policies.
That is what politics should be about. It absolutely should not be about the denigration of opposition MPs and their families – the conjuring up of hurtful lies.
It is unfair that the actions of a few individuals should in any way threaten the reputation of politicians in general. And so it is important to get to the bottom of exactly who was party to the infamous email exchanges and why the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers was being ignored so blatantly.
As Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office I wrote to the Cabinet Office Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, asking these questions and others.
Only when we have got to the bottom of the exactly what goes on at No 10 Downing Street can we hope to repair the damage that has already been done.
