Red Faced - Red Top

George Pascoe Watson is cock of the walk. As the Political Editor of the Sun newspaper, he is the biggest beast in the corral. His support and opinion can make or break politicians and their parties.

So when he comments here that Alan Johnson will definitely not be Shadow Chancellor, it carries weight.

Except... two minutes after reading his tweet, BBC TV confidently announced that Allan Johnson is the new Shadow Chancellor, quickly followed by this non-apology from the bold George...

This may seem a trivial matter, but people like Pascoe Watson survive and prosper on their contacts and the reliability of the information they can get from those contacts. There has been much discussion recently about the "red top" tabloids, especially the Sun, losing their dominant influence over public and political opinion.

Getting it so wrong so publicly in this type of issue won't help restore that dominance.... and a good thing too.