If anyone thinks any of our glorious leaders are whiter than white, purer than pure, think again. Some are clearly far better/worse than others but I'd wager they've all said, done and thought things which, if they'd been recorded and subsequently made public, could easily damage or even destroy their reputations if not their careers. Often these things are made public at times such as these when there's an opportunity to damage one clique or the other. Sometimes the dirt is held in reserve for a rainy day and sometimes the media can 'engineer' situations in which politicians are deliberately lured into saying/saying things which they'll later regret. Is is better to have a consummate liar like Blair at the helm or someone who, perhaps, isn't quite as 'clever' or devious?
