"Well, that's a lie"

Cherie Blair denies saying "That's a lie" after she stropped out during Brown's speech. Downing Street claims she actually said: "Can I get by?" (Not: "Excuse me"? I suppose you can take the girl out of Liverpool, but...). No one believes a word of it. The Peter Foster/Bristol flats affair revealed Cherie to be a woman with a rather strained relationship with the truth. Politaholic, and so far as I can gather everyone else, believes the Bloomberg journalist who reported the incident. On another tack, Peter Snow on Channel 4 reported that "off-the-record" briefings by Blairites rubbishing Brown are continuing. Alistair Campbell challenged his demanding he name his sources. Odd that Campbell, a professional journalist, should apparently be unfamiliar with the "off-the-record" convention. This morning Mandelson is on Radio 4; and later there is Blair's speech.