McNulty - more lobbydoggy, than attack doggy

“Is the blog-man here,” asked McNulty sitting down at the briefing table. Lobbydog put up his hand.

It was the start of a slightly bizarre exchange I had with the Employment Minister this morning, in which he revealed he was a Lobbydog reader.

At the last briefing he joked with other hacks that he wanted to ban me – but deep down it seems Tony “attack-dog” McNulty is actually a puppy, a glutton for punishment even.

Asked by another hack if he read their blog he answered: “You haven’t offended me yet.”

An invitation if ever I heard one.

He added that he reads Iain Dale every day – one in the eye for Draper and Campbell.

This blog certainly has a history of giving McNulty the odd slap and its readers are never shy in sounding off.

However, the minister said he’d resisted leaving a comment so far – come on Tony, you know you want to.

“I’m a big West Wing fan," he said to me. "Do you like the West Wing?”

“There’s an episode where Josh, who is the number two on the communications side, decides he’s going to answer something on the blogs.

“His secretary tells him not to because he gets obsessed when they then answer back – he has to say ‘that’s not right. That’s not right. Where do these people live? What planet are they on?’

“But really, I love my blogs.”

So bloggers – McNulty doesn’t know what planet you’re living on. Why don’t you tell him?