Damian McBride: Are the Tories getting their tactics wrong?

As with all big organisations, the man at the top can't be expected to know everything that is going on, and just because something was sent from an email account attached to Number 10 Downing Street doesn't mean the main occupant was in on it.

When the story first broke, the Tories sought to may play with the fact that a senior government staffer was busy creating rumours at a time when the country was in economic turmoil. That was the plan of attack they should have stuck to.

Diverting off and playing the wounded animal only serves, to the electorate across the country, that the Tories are more interested in rumours about themselves than they are about the big issues of the day. It also provides Brown with the opportunity to rise above the murky goings on which he, in all probability, knew nothing about.

David Cameron and George Osborne have been strangely quiet this weekend, save the odd statement issued here or there. Maybe it is just because it is the Easter weekend, and I'm certainly not suggesting there is any truth in the rumours McBride wanted to put about.

But maybe, just maybe, Cameron and Osborne aren't that surprised by what has happened. Maybe they know that, rightly or wrongly, it's just politics and that is what happens. When they hold the upper-hand in the polls, people will seek to pull the back down.

The Tories certainly aren't innocent when it comes to spin. Their spin doctor in chief is Andy Coulson, the man who quit as editor of the News of The World when it came to light that the paper was indulging in criminal activity to get information on the Royal Family.

Of course, there is a difference between spin and downright lies, which McBride sought to push around, but the reaction of Nadine Dorries, the only one of the "slurred" to chase around the TV and radio studios this weekend, to a question about whether Cameron's team indulge in such action was interesting.

Tip of the hat to Stephen Nolan on Five Live for asking Ms Dorries that question. Her response was quite explosive but she didn't actually clarify where the Tories draw the line on spin and smears. And her response that McBride represented a new moral low for British politics was a tad short-sighted. I personally find cash for questions more morally reprehensible, although at least the Hamiltons are now paying for it with their death by daytime TV career.

The problem fpr the Tories in letting Ms Dorries charge around acting as though she has been the victim of the worst ever crime is that it makes it look as though the Tories aren't this new, fresh, party of the people organisation David Cameron seeks for them to be, but just another incarnation of a political structure which puts gossip and one-upmanship ahead of all else.

Out and about this Easter, despite the good weather in many areas, the sense of gloom will have still hung heavily over many areas. Cameron would be much better locking Ms Dorries up in a room for a few days and then seeking to end the McBride scandal.

He can do this by proposing alternatives to the special adviser system. He can pledge to insist that no special advisers become political if he wins power, and promise a distinct divide between the civil service and party-employed animals. Such a promise from Labout would be suicide, given their financial state as a party, and surely Cameron knows that.

But letting the saga linger on for longer in the hope of a sympathetic viewing in the next batch of polls could, and should backfire on the Tories. Those outside the bubble, I believe, may be fed up of Labour, but are still to be convinced by what the Tories would do differently. How the Tories play the next few days could start to make up some minds.