Fundraising scandal leads to key Labour figure's resignation
James Forsyth 6:23pmLabour’s General Secretary Peter Watt has tonight resigned over the fundraising scandal that broke this weekend. Watt resigned because he knew that property developer David Abrahams was donating money to the party via friends, an arrangement that legally should have been disclosed. It remains to be seen if this swift departure marks an end to the affair. It is certainly another bad news story that Gordon Brown could have done without on the day that he tried to regain some momentum.
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John Backhouse
November 26th, 2007 7:35pm Report this commentLet's hope the Tories keep pressing then. Who knew? Harriet? Gordon? Jack? Poor old John Yates must be wishing he'd held on a bit longer.
Alex R
November 26th, 2007 10:18pm Report this commentHow can it? Why should it? The labour party have clearly broken the law. This is now a criminal matter.
Max Kaye
November 26th, 2007 10:46pm Report this commentGordon Brown has become the anti-Midas: Everything he touches turns to ashes.
carol42
November 27th, 2007 12:04am Report this comment'Our Friends in the North' all over again.
Bernie the Bolt
November 27th, 2007 4:20am Report this commentFor those of us who despise politicians and all their works, this story is hugely entertaining. The immediate future offers the hysterically funny prospect of this government crashing around like a drunk in a china shop, while desperately trying to find the exit. And mark my words; given the billions of pounds he has squandered, we intend to be entertained by the grisly demise of our non-elected prime minister, as he is slowly hoist on a petard of his own manufacture.
Don Quinn
November 27th, 2007 8:44am Report this commentThe Labour Party is desperate to get money from the business community because it has destroyed its membership base. The man who led the witch hunts in my region,( Peter Watt was the Regional Organiser in the Easter Region) against the core socialist membership, was Peter Watt. These were the very members who day in day out raised the cash. Watt either got the NEC to sack them or they resigned in disgust. The charge this ambitious little functionary used was ‘bringing the Labour Party into disrepute’. I look forward to the NEC tearing up Peter Watts’s membership card as a person who actually did bring the Labour Party into disrepute.
steve
November 27th, 2007 10:31am Report this commentWhen I saw Peter Watt on the news I thought to myself - "Has he started shaving yet?" then I discovered he is in fact 37, anyways thats by the by. What I did start thinking is where are the greybeards in Nu-Lab, the sort of people who have been round a bit, I suspect an older head would have looked at these donations and thought A, these smell a bit funny to me, and B, If we accept these, they will blow up in our faces one day. Instead we have this clueless Tufty Club, who went smoothly from playground to politics, with no "real world" experience. I think that Cameron would be wise to take a long hard look at the Tufty Club, and make sure he has a few greybeards in his inner circle to keep an eye on things.
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