A good day for... soundbites

Whenever there is a crisis it is time for representatives of each party to respond and offer the quote that will make the news headlines and newspaper columns. The soundbite can be as indicative of the individual as their position on the topic and how they stand on the party political divide (context depending).

Brown's quote on Hain's failure to declare £103,000 does not inspire confidence him him of the man he is defending: what does "It was a mistake that was made. It was an incompetence" tell us? Conservative leader David Cameron's response is a little lacklustre, or at least the bit quoted is: "He can get out there and explain himself or I think he will have to leave the cabinet"; perhaps it reflects a man who is metaphorically worried about throwing stones when in his own glass house.

Congratulations go to new Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg though, so far there are no claims of Liberal Democrat funding improprieties, thus he can happily say that Hain's credibility is in tatters (which surely it must be) and get in the dig that anyone should be proud of an perhaps half of parliament wish they had thought of: ""When Gordon Brown said he wanted a government of all the talents, no-one realised that incompetence was going to be one of them". I love that line!

Cock-up not conspiracy - so that's ok then!

Peter Hain is another nail in the coffin of trust in Labour, not only is the party guilty of mismanaging is funding but so was he during his challenge for Deputy Leadership. It is a mistake he claims, so 5,000 can just be overlooked apparently. To compound the problem his aides are engaged in a blame game. First aide Phil Taylor says it was all done properly when he was in charge, while his successor Steve Morgan says he was brought in to sort out the mess Taylor left in his wake. Now this all may be a mistake but what are we to think as a result.

Hain is a Minister of State, in fact he is Secretary for Works and Pensions. His department must be responsible for millions of pounds, but he is effectively telling us that during something as mundane as a Deputy Leadership contest, where only thousands are involved, he and his small team managed to cock it up; how can he then justify remaining in a position of any responsibility and expect that the public can trust him to run the department effectively? I think it is a fair question!

And, what a waste of money. Thousands spent on a failed campaign, what were donors seeking to gain from donations. Surely pure benevolence cannot justify this. Very worrying! A good argument for all election spending to be capped heavily and for very limited funding that excludes flashy advertising to be provided by us the tax payer. This will mean MPs and the party have to work harder on the streets and free media exposure while utilising the Internet more instead of spending a fortune on flashy ads to slag off their opponents. Well that's my opinion, not often I go off on one but I enjoyed it!

Nice Dig, Peter

A row has begun about whether Conservative Welsh Assembly candidate David Millar was promoting discriminating against homosexuals or just making an observation that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of Christianity. It is now a claim and counter-claim between Millar and his Labour counterpart Alan Pugh.

But entering into the debate, which calls for David Cameron to dismiss Millar, is Peter Hain, Welsh Minister, candidate for Labour Deputy leadership, the man nicknamed the hatchet man (right) and a man with 165 Myspace friends. He gives us a fantastic soundbite in making a dig at the Conservative rebranding under Cameron:

"This is a real test as to whether your public relations respray job on the Tories means anything at all,"

Whether you agree with the comment or not it's a good line, perhaps though more widely applicable in modern British politics than Peter suggests or would like to believe!