Look out for the Side Effects

Sometimes, side effects are suffered by those taking medication. At other times, the side effects may be suffered merely by talking about medication. Yesterday’s raising of the medication issue on the Andy Marr Show during Marr’s set piece interview with Pa Broon is already causing fallout among the latter group.

Leading the chorus of righteous scorn this morning has been Baron Mandelson of Indeterminate Guacamole, which has been reported across the spectrum, from the Maily Telegraph to the Guardian, to whom Marr has given more information about the interview and his show generally, which includes the significant fact that Downing Street has not made a complaint about the medication question.

I’ll bet they haven’t.

Because one question none of those involved seem to be asking – yet – is that of how the issue will play for Labour. And I suspect that it could play rather well: Brown not too happy about the question, but prepared to answer it, then being portrayed as being unfairly smeared by some in the blogosphere – and one newspaper - who can’t back up their rumours.

And Marr wins too: he’s now being lauded by the Tory leaning blogosphere, instead of being pictured as a rotten leftie. But this could change very quickly if he were to ask Young Dave, as I mentioned yesterday, about the rumours that have been doing the rounds at Westminster – those same rounds that the Brown rumours have been doing.

Were he to do so, Marr would immediately be denounced by his new admirers and there would be calls for the BBC to be purged of those possessing inconvenient thought (not that Tories are against free speech, of course). It would be such a racing certainty that I would put money on it, except for one small problem.

I may have difficulty getting odds.