In Alan Clarke's diaries he talks about how on Question Time he dropped a clanger on the issue of defence. He described how Sir Bernard Ingram dealt with the resulting media controversy, he issued what Clarke described as a "what he meant to say" statement.
This morning Ulster Unionists and Conservatives appear to have adopted this approach to deal with the fall-out from Cameron's News Night interview. There is an opinion piece in today's Belfast Telegraph by Cameron and two more in the News Letter (by William Hague and David Shiels). The Ulster Unionist are touring the news studios this morning to reinforce this. There are no special plans for extra cuts in Northern Ireland, the expansion of the private sector is a 20-25 year goal etc. However they are having difficulty in dealing with what "unsustainable" means and the manifesto commitment to a £6 billion cut in expenditure this year.
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