Ed Miliband’s chief spin doctor, Tom Baldwin allegedly told BBC’s Nick Robinson that the Labour leader had seen the HSBC scandal as 'another Milly Dowler moment’ My first rule of political scandals is that they don’t matter unless people are talking about them in the pub. Any important scandal needs a moment that turns them from a storm in the Westminster teacup to a topic of debate in The George. With MPs’ expenses, it was Sir Peter Viggers’ duck pond. With phone hacking, it was Milly Dowler’s voicemails. And with Andrew Mitchell, it wasn’t the fact that he swore at police officers; it was that much-disputed word ‘pleb’.
@highlight
Leaked files on HSBC’s Swiss operations has set off a political firestorm
@highlight
1,000 wealthy Britons used it to evade tax but only one faced prosecution
@highlight
But Damian McBride asks what will get people talking down at the pub?
@highlight
Damian McBride is a former adviser to Gordon Brown
Now all the public can see – based on his spin doctor’s own analysis – is that @placeholder was not sharing their outrage; he was exploiting it.