Will Labour tribalism waste the once-in-a-generation opportunity?

How disappointing. For the first time in a generation the nation has a window of opportunity to break up the incestuous relationship between Government, Met Police and Murdoch media in which the Murdoch press has abused and dominated the political process and intimidated politicians in the name of its imaginary great British readership. (To say nothing of the Royal Family - and I'm no royalist). An abusive relationship in which politicians have felt they had little choice but to humour them and do what they can to limit the damage; maybe even (in the run-up to an election) get their approval. Rebekah Brooks is no doubt very charming, but even she, surely, didn't think she'd have got the invitations to all those dinner parties unless her hosts felt they had little choice but to invite her.

And now the Labour Party, sensing party political advantage, is on the point of throwing it all away.

I would be surprised if there is a single MP in the House who wouldn't be delighted to see Murdoch tamed, and his grubby hands got out of their knickers. Yet on Newsnight tonight, Murdoch was forgotten. The spotlight is of course on the Met - quite rightly, as my previous post predicted - and is starting to swing round on to the politicians. And as it does so, the squabbling and tribal name-calling starts to break out.

The sight of Harriet Harman desperately trying to extract short-term party political advantage from it is pretty pathetic. I understand that Opposition has a job to do, but this isn't the Opposition we need just now. This is a time for a bit of statesmanship from all parties.

Besides, the idea that this incestuous culture is the responsibility of David Cameron is laughable - although of course he's up to his neck in it, as they nearly all are. He couldn't have got to be Prime Minister if he weren't. Thatcher, Major, Blair (especially Blair, and his minder Campbell) and Brown were all responsible for the collective political failure to cage the beast. And the great British public is responsible too, for continuing to buy Murdoch's papers. (Why is it that really good journalism just doesn't seem to sell? I write as someone who has never 'done Murdoch' - fortunately I'm completely uninterested in televised sport.)

Harman kept squeaking about how awful it was that Millie Dowler's phone got hacked, seemingly forgetting that it happened on her watch. It was Tony Blair that sidelined the Labour Party membership - first he consulted focus groups, and then tried to buy the public's affection directly through media manipulation. Riding the tiger.

Which reminds me of a poem we used to read with our children when they were young :

Algy met a bear.
The bear met Algy.
The bear was bulgy.
The bulge was Algy.

I really hope that the Labour Party doesn't squander the opportunity that MPs collectively now have to put Parliament back in control. It may be pretty inadequate as a democratic institution, but God knows it's better than the Murdoch press. And of course it's not just the Murdoch press. The heart sinks at the prospect of the Daily Mail and Daily Express picking up the dropped baton.