Regular readers of this bully pulpit will know that I pretty much regard Jack Straw, with his re-found love of contact lenses and new haircut, as one of the most cynical politicians in an profoundly cynical government.

And Craig Murray, our erstwhile ambassador to Uzbekistan, manages to stoke my contempt even further in his new campaign diary for the Guardian (Murray plans to stand against Straw in his Blackburn constituency at the election):

Blackburn’s Muslim community is primarily Gujarati, and has traditionally been a bulwark of Straw’s support. By chance, Straw went on an official visit to Gujarat only last month, where he made much of Home Office proposals to make it easier to get visas to visit relatives.

Private Eye ran a cartoon of Straw during his visit. He was seated, wearing a turban, no socks and shoes, and was tucking into a local delicacy. “I’m only currying favour” ran the punchline.

But wait, there’s more.

There is much speculation that the war on terror will turn the Muslim vote against Straw, but the ennobled local leadership - he has made two patriarchs of his constituency’s Gujarati community members of the House of Lords - remains firmly behind him. There is a thought that disillusioned young Muslims might split from the leadership; this is where the postal ballot comes in.

So far, so New Labour. But in the next paragraph, which I personally thought sailed pretty close to being libellous, Murray added:

The great disadvantage of a secret ballot is that, whatever social pressure you may have exerted, you have no idea what the individual does in the ballot box. With a postal ballot, community patriarchs can insist on inspecting the ballots before voting.

Murray’s diary is going to be a weekly feature in the Guardian. He’s already having fun with it. I can’t wait to see what he turns up next.

(Link via Nick Barlow)