Conspiracies, pretty much by definition, work only if they stay in the shadows. So here on the Star’s editorial board we’re quite ticked off this week at Erin O’Toole, who’s running for the leadership of the federal Conservative party.

In the course of pitching his case to Tories, O’Toole warned against turning into the “mushy middle party” and lamented that Canada under the Trudeau government has lost its competitive mojo.

So far, so predictable. But then he let the cat out of the bag: “We’re seen, quite frankly, as government led by the editorial board of the Toronto Star.”

Well, we do try. But it just gets harder when people like O’Toole pull back the curtain and expose the string-pulling that goes on behind closed doors.

We do take comfort, though, in the fact that this revelation appeared in the National Post. That’s the next best thing to keeping it a secret.