Big beast or mule?

Ken Clarke has been called a few things in his time, though being compared to a drugs smuggler must be a first.

A stinging attack was launched on the Rushcliffe MP – it came up while I was away but I couldn’t let it pass – in which he was compared to a Columbian drugs mule of all things.

The rather bizarre comparison was made by the usually smooth-talking Michael Gove in a Times article a few years back, and then regurgitated by Ed Balls in the Commons.

Gove apparently wrote:

For the Conservatives to return to power, the party must be seen to have learnt from its mistakes, rejected the arrogance, cynicism and pocketlining of the Major era.

Ken Clarke is sadly ill-equipped to do that job.

As John Major’s tax-raising Chancellor, British American Tobacco’s handsomely remunerated director, the Euro’s voter-rubbishing cheerleader and the tireless hammer of nurses and teachers, Ken carries more tainted baggage than a mule on Colombia airways.

After being confronted with the criticism of his now cabinet colleague, Gove told Balls his Commons speech was uncharacteristically witty.

Maybe someone else who is itching to attack Clarke was feeding him lines?