Returns of the Prodigal Poodle

The Ascended Incarnation of the Vicar of Downing Street is to donate all profits from his testament, The Incredible Journey, to the Royal British Legion. The Legion plans to build a centre to provide rehabilitation resources for seriously injured troops, market forces having apparently got a bit behind-hand in conjuring up such things; and it is not yet clear whether Daveybloke's Cuddly Chancellor will consider treatment for soldiers, like healthcare for the proles, as being the proper concern of churches and eccentric millionaires rather than the Government. It is understood by the Guardian's Journalistic Passive Impersonal that his reverence has found it necessary to negotiate for several months with the beneficiaries of his largesse, presumably in order to protect his left hand from the knowledge of his right hand's almsgiving; doubtless both appendages will be happily surprised by whatever Ecclestonean kickbacks are included in the final settlement. Anti-war activists have taken a predictably uncharitable view of the matter, with one claiming that this abrupt discovery of a limit to Tony's avarice indicates, of all things, a guilty conscience. This is nonsense, of course. It is much more likely that the prospect of another session in Sir John Chilcot's comfy chair has called to mind the crown of thorns accorded his reverence by some bereaved families and other forces of conservatism the last time.