<p>When Tony Blair implied the decline in respect for democratic politics is partly the fault of the media he was being very partial in his view of the problem.</p>
<p>It is true that endless stories about "sleaze" and "spin" are the background to the drop in support for political parties and the collapse in the number of people bothering to vote. It is true that if the media had not run all those stories people might have a higher view of modern politics, and might be more involved.</p>
<p>What is also true is that it was Tony Blair’s passion for spinning - aided by Mr Campbell - that gave the media their fascination for "sleaze" and forced their interest in "spin".</p>
<p>Tony Blair has always been mesmerised by what he calls the 7 by 24 media. He implies that the perpetual nature of the modern media, and the growth in many media outlets, makes it an altogether different challenge for modern politicians which in some way excuses his passion for spin. Naively he tells us it means you do need to have a press office.</p>
<p>Yes, of course senior politicans need a press office. But it should be the task of the press office to arrange interviews, schedule times for the politican to make his views known, and organise the statements and speeches. It is not the job of the press office to try to run the newspapers.</p>
<p>Politicians have always had to handle the media, and to use the media intelligently to put out their messages, to win opinion over, to explain what they are doing. There is nothing new about that in the Blair era. In some ways?? it is easier for politicians now the media is more diverse, and there is more of it. It gives politicians more of a chance of finding outlets that will run their view of events, and it limits the damage if an outlet is hostile, because each outlet now has a smaller audience.</p>
<p>??The fatal flaw of Blair’s approach to politics is to give the media such a central role, and then to believe that he can manage the media. For much of his time in office he has defined his task as being to write a lovely national story with himself in a starring role. He has spent far less time trying to ensure his actions and the actions of the whole government??reflect the story he is telling.</p>
<p>What is needed to revive democratic politics is the election to office of a group of politicians who think their prime task is to steer the ship of government well. Talking to the media about progress should be a lesser role, and is better done when there is some progress to report. When I was a Minister I regarded some of my successes as being handling things that could have gone wrong in such a way that they never appeared in?? the newspaper because they worked alright on the night. You did not try every day to be in the press, because that would have been inviting trouble.</p>
<p>The remarkable thing about the Blair era for me was how long they got away with spinning to the media before the penny dropped that they were talking the talk but not walking the walk. It was frustrating as a sceptical opposition politician close to the action to see a group??of ministers so obviously failing to do the job of directing the government getting away with claim after claim.</p>
<p>They use legislation as part of their story telling, they seek to prevent Parliament getting answers to the difficult questions (by not answering them or by answering a quesiton they would prefer to answer), and they appear to spend most of their waking hours on politics and media relations rather than on running their departments.</p>
<p>??It is no wonder the media are now very sceptical about this regime. They have brought it on themselevs by the way they define and do the jobs. The trouble is they have dragged democratic politics down overall, by making many in this current generation believe that spinning is politics.

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