A straight bat and a reverse swing
The Secretary of State Owen Paterson played what in cricketing parlance would be called a "straight bat" to all my deliveries during yesterday's "Inside Politics". Mr Paterson was at pains not to say anything controversial about the Bloody Sunday inquiry, his first major news story to handle whilst in office. So he spent a lot of time urging everyone to suspend judgment, read the report when it is published then move on from there.
But presumably he hadn't had a team talk with his Cabinet colleague, the Justice Secretary, Ken Clarke who was over on Sky News describing the Saville inquiry as "ludicrous" and a "disaster" in terms of time and expense. So whilst the Northern Ireland Secretary was employing a "straight bat", the Justice Secretary, in typical buccaneering style, resorted to the political equivalent of Kevin Pietersen's "reverse swing".
I'm 
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