I found out about Hazel Blears' resignation this morning. It sparked a conversation in the Finance Team at Metrica about the power of the media to influence our opinion of the government. If we had any doubts about the influence of the media on politics, the level of coverage generated by the Telegraph scoop dispelled them.

The influential role of the media on public opinion was backed up by findings in the most recent Globescan report. This found that more people trust the media than their governments.

What’s remarkable about this whole scandal, as Peter Wilby points out in The Guardian, is that in recent weeks we have seen the return of the ‘old-fashioned scoop’ – details revealed in daily installments of print versions of The Telegraph have added weight to our mistrust of MPs and we now know it’s a feeling shared throughout the UK. A recent poll by The Times revealed that the share of Labour’s vote in the European elections could fall as low as 16%.