Labour spin doctor under-fire

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair’s top spin doctor was branded “insensitive” yesterday for suggesting the Paris airport disaster was an opportunity to highlight French transport failings.

Four people died when the roof of Terminal 2E collapsed at Charles de Gaulle airport on Sunday.

Just hours later No 10 media chief David Hill said the tragedy could be used to highlight French transport failings. London is competing against the rival capital for the 2012 Olympics.

“He said he was sure something could be made of the disaster, that there was an opportunity for briefing about the state of French transport,” one official told the Daily Mail.

Mr Hill’s remarks drew comparisons with a former Government spin doctor’s notorious suggestion that September 11 was a “good day to bury bad news”.

Mr Hill told the paper: “It was a flippant aside made at an internal meeting that was not designed to be serious or to cause offence.”

But Tory party co-chairman Liam Fox said: “The insensitivity of these remarks speaks volumes.”

The Daily Mail reported Mr Hill’s comments came at Downing Street’s Monday briefing for Whitehall communications chiefs.