Hazel Blears 'attack' on Sarah Palin

There has been a fair amount of interest in Hazel Blears' relatively brief aside about Sarah Palin during the Fabian fringe this lunchtime.

Andrew Sparrow of The Guardian reported this on the Guardian politics blog earlier:

"Her politics are horrendous, but she's struck a chord with people - 'I'm a maverick, I'm not part of those powerful people' - and people identified with that."

The point was rather less about the US election and part of a broader argument about the nature of politics.

But I think the dangers of Labour figures commenting on what is the obvious and natural preference of every Labour MP are overstated. Downing Street went to fairly absurd lengths to observe 'protocol parity' during the candidate's visits. But the views of Harriet Harman and Hazel Blears on the Palin agenda are both perfectly obvious, given their political views, and in no way likely to affect anything whatsoever in UK relations with any US administration.

And we will be looking for the Lessons from America in our 6pm fringe at Manchester Town Hall on Sunday night.