Trusting nobody

It's been no secret that Con MPs have been under PMS' thumb ever since the party took power, with only the most reliable parrots of the party line winning a place in cabinet. But the Globe and Mail reports that even cabinet ministers are under the gun from the PMO:

Sandra Buckler, the communications director for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has asked that staff working for Conservative cabinet ministers secretly provide her with assessments of their bosses' communications skills.

The directive has apparently caused tensions between the staffers and the ministers - and between the ministers and Ms. Buckler, who has often been criticized for her less-than-amicable relationship with the national news media.

Communications directors in the offices of federal cabinet ministers have told The Globe and Mail that Ms. Buckler asked them to compile reports critiquing their ministers' abilities and send the reports to her without informing the ministers.

One of them, speaking on condition he not be named, said the request put him in a difficult position because he was being asked to be critical of the minister who hired him - and who could also fire him in short order.

Now, there's nothing wrong with having multiple means of reporting in place as long as all parties involved are familiar and comfortable with the system. But it's something else entirely for the PMO to demand that communications directors go behind the backs of their own bosses.

Of course, the cabinet ministers themselves presumably know enough about PMS' controlling tendencies not to risk sticking their necks out by criticizing the scheme. But when the PMO is willing to foster distrust even among his inner circle solely based on his obsession with image, there's all the less reason for anybody else to see Harper as deserving their own trust.