The Daily Telegraph carries a lengthy leader today justifying its coverage of John Brogden. It’s precious in parts, but this paragraph stands out:

“It should be emphasised also that some of the sources
relied upon for yesterday’s news, in fact for reports on the Brogden
crisis all week, were from within the Liberal Party itself – Mr
Brogden’s supposed supporters. The lesson to be drawn from that salient
fact is that ‘secrets’ in politics are not long kept – not even by
friends.”

But exactly who was the guilty party – or
maybe the guiltier party – behind the stories in the first edition of
the paper yesterday that appear to have lead to Brogden’s self-harm
episode? The Telegraph – or Brogden’s enemies in the Liberal Party?

It seems clear that the events of this week have been driven by factional forces in the NSW Liberal Party. The Telegraph
does not say where its “Brogden’s sordid past” first edition story
yesterday came from. The sources in the article itself were vague, as
was the piece on Lucy Brogden inside. That contained some basic
inaccuracies, too – like getting her age wrong – and quoted the
perpetual tabloid standby source, “a friend.”

But the stories had to come from somewhere. Democrat Senator Andrew Bartlett stated the bleeding obvious this morning when
he accused politicians around John Brogden of “sticking the boot in” to
bring down the former NSW opposition leader. Blud oath! It has looked
like the Singing in the Rain sequence of A Clockwork Orange.

There
have been some very precious and very public comments of sympathy about
John Brogden over the last few days from state and federal Liberal
parliamentarians. Those from his fellow North Shore moderate Philip Ruddockare some of the few that were sincere.

It seems clear that the original reporting would not have appeared without work by Liberals and that The Telegraph’s overkill yesterday was aided and abetted by Liberal Party figures.

There
are Liberals crying crocodile tears. Brogden clearly behaved in an
inappropriate way at the AHA function, but it’s outrageous to suggest
he is racist or sexist. All his public statements – let alone his
behind the scenes work and mentoring of women in the Liberal Party –
suggest the opposite.

We should consider this when we think of John Brogden, his legacy and his future.