RACING pundit John McCririck showed during his recent, stomach-churning performance on Channel 4's increasingly vile Celebrity Big Brother series that he has no class.

His decision to launch an attack on Tony Blair from the cathedral pulpit at Robin Cook's funeral yesterday is further confirmation of his appalling lack of judgement.

This was an opportunity to celebrate the life of a man fittingly described by Chancellor Gordon Brown as "the greatest parliamentarian of our times".

Instead, Mr McCririck used the occasion to pour scorn on the Prime Minister for not flying back from his holiday to be there, accusing him of "petty vindictiveness and a moral failure".

Whatever the rights and wrongs of Mr Blair's non-appearance, it was neither the time nor the place for racing's nose-picking buffoon to open his big mouth.

As Jim Devine, Mr Cook's election agent and close friend, said: "It was not what Robin would have wanted."

When Robin Cook left the Government because of his opposition to the war in Iraq, he did it with a dignity which was typical of the way he fought his political battles.

Mr McCririck could have learned a great deal from him.