Mulroney and Harper in a family feud

Now the Conservative caucus is fighting over whether Brian Mulroney is still a loyal Conservative or not.

Three weeks ago a couple of the bright boys in Harper’s office leaked a report to journalists that Mulroney was no longer a member of the Conservative Party.

It was NOT true. Mulroney never left the party. He had simply told the party’s chief fund raiser Senator Irving Gerstein a couple of months earlier that for the time being he could no longer afford to be a member of Harper’s prestigious Leader’s Circle.

The Gerstein report got back to Doug Finley in Harper’s office. The bright boys saw in it a chance for Harper to take his distance from Mulroney, just in case something damaging came out at the inquiry.

When the news reached him that the prime minister’s office was saying he was no longer a Conservative, Mulroney was in hospital recovering from food poisoning.

He went ballistic. “I’ve always been a Conservative and I will die a Conservative,” shot back Mulroney. Not that anybody ever doubted it.

Instead of quickly backing off by saying it had all been a terrible misunderstanding, the bright boys decided to fight back.

They and persuaded no less that Senator Majory LeBreton, one of Mulroney oldest and most trusted friends, to stand up at the weekly Conservative caucus meeting and announce Mulroney was out.

They figured that if it came from the woman who had been Mulroney oldest and most trusted aide, “The Queen of Patronage” as she was called, it would be credible to the caucus.

The LeBreton scheme backfired. Mulroney had been in touch with loyal caucus friends. They came to his defense. Calgary MP Lee Rcihardson stood up and booed Senator LeBreton. When was the last time a caucus member booed a cabinet minister in caucus? ”Ridiculous” said Revenue Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn who came out to defend Mulroney. So did Max Bernier, and cabinet minister Christian Paradis, and then Defense Minister Peter MacKay. It was a regular parade.

What had been a dumb idea by a bunch of bright boys was now a full-scale caucus split, spreading out into the party rank and file.

Harper was in Europe at the G-20 summit when the fighting began. But he remained strangely silent.

Was he not told what was happening? Apparently not.

Doesn’t Harper read the newspapers? Maybe only European papers.

And the television, or telephone? Both have been invented.

Could Harper have approved of the scheme to humiliate Mulroney?

The fight became more ludicrous and damaging as it spread..

Malicious newspaper journalists joined in. One Western newspaper reported that Mila Mulroney, in a fit of anger, had ripped Harper’s photo from the wall and flung it into the garbage can.

True or not, it fanned more dispute. A trusted friend of the family says only that Mila certainly was angry at the prime minister’s office.

All it would have taken to end the dispute would have been a telephone call from Harper to Mulroney to end the dispute. It never came. Why was it never made?

Instead Senator LeBreton came out publicly and said: “I believe this is all a thing of the past.”

Oh yeah? Who is she trying to kid?