Toby Young – Utterly Delusional

Some spin is so blatant that it leaves the impression that its source is suffering some kind of delusional disconnect from reality, and that has been the case today with our old friend, the loathsome Toby Young, whose return to Telegraph blogs, after having been given the boot by Rupe, was hailed as “triumphant”, rather than someone scratching round for work after being unceremoniously sacked.

Tobes cannot, under any circumstances, admit that anyone to the left of his beloved Michael “Oiky” Gove is ever right, and so when Mil The Younger caused Young Dave to abandon any thought of immediate military action against Syria, this could not possibly mean that the Labour leader deserved any credit. Tobes cannot go there: it is as if he’d been Ipcressed.

So out was wheeled the patently ridiculous assertion “Syria: Cameron's climb down over air strikes is a victory for Parliament, not Miliband”. Really? Let’s subject that one to a brief reality check, shall we? Did Parliament sit yesterday, at the time that Cameron and Miliband had their discussions and the former made his decision to back down? No. Therefore bullshit.

Even Tobes’ colleagues Iain Martin (“This is not David Cameron’s finest hour”) and Damian Thompson (“Miliband has outmanoeuvred Dave. Well, that’s a first”) concluded thus. Tobes has dug himself into a hole and has disregarded Healey’s Dictum. But he had another chance when the actual Parliamentary debate took place this afternoon, so did he fare any better?

And the answer is that no, he didn’t: “Listing to Miliband respond to David Cameron, I had difficulty understanding what Labour's position is. In particular, it's unclear why Miliband changed his mind yesterday afternoon about supporting immediate military action”. And, for the second time, I call bullshit: as can be seen from this helpful extract from Miliband, he did not change his mind.

Perhaps Tobes hasn’t been paying attention, but most likely is that he thought he could pull a fast one and nobody would notice. Then we get more spin about the UN weapons inspectors, on the subject of which Tobes manages not to notice that they have not yet reported back on their findings. That is Miliband’s point. But Tobes is sure that “the Leader of the Opposition certainly doesn't look very statesmanlike”.

Once again, his colleague Iain Martin, who I would estimate is some way to my right, has scored the debate as a loss for both party leaders. Meanwhile, Toby Young gives the impression that, despite his libertarian claims, he is throwing a mardy strop because the rotten lefties won’t let his team go and stick their bugle in the affairs of yet another Middle Eastern country.

Then, on top of that, he thinks his opinion matters, and that really is delusional.