“On election night, as the exit polls indicated that the Prime Minister [Gordon Brown] was no more popular or trusted than Michael Foot had been in 1983, his favourite emissaries rushed to the microphones to “interpret” the results. My jaw dropped as I heard Jack Dromey (aka Mr Harperson) claim: “The real losers tonight are the Conservatives.” This was life mimicking art: Orwell's allegory had become the how-to-cope manual for New Labour's response unit……Foremost among these comedians was Mr [Alastair] Campbell, who, having battled gamely to overcome alcoholism, appears to have succumbed to an even more powerful intoxicant: the fumes from his own exhaust. Others, such as Peter Hain and Ed Balls, are, one suspects, inhaling similar hallucinatory gases.”