Labour sleaze and Saint Gordon

Close friends of the Prime Minister say that he knows that the cash for peerages crisis goes very deep, and may even finish him off. But they insist that he is ‘determined to fight on, if at all possible’. In the face of formidable evidence to the contrary, the Prime Minister still believes that he is the indispensable man.

He was at it again on Tuesday, making a major speech, the first of a series of three, setting out his vision of foreign affairs. Tony Blair is enormously proud of what he has achieved on the international stage. He is sure that he has set a new tone for British foreign entanglements, as Gladstone did in the 1870s. He does not just believe; he knows for certain that he has put enduring human values back at the heart of British diplomacy, instead of the cynical and murderous self-interest of the Conservative years.

But Tony Blair looked unwell as he delivered this message. He read stutteringly, without passion or enthusiasm, from his script. He appeared distracted. His skin was red and blotchy and he sweated. His personal authority has not all gone, but it’s been terribly compromised. Many Labour MPs now speak of him with open contempt. Ian Davidson, the Member for Glasgow South West, compares the Blair faction to the Militant Tendency that nearly destroyed the Labour party in the 1980s. A growing number are publicly calling on him to stand down. Disaffected MPs plot quite openly, in full sight of party whips, against Tony Blair.

At the heart of the problems now facing the Prime Minister are three important deceptions. Downing Street has misled the Electoral Commission, the House of Lords Appointments Commission and the Labour party. The Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000 states that donations of more than £5,000 in a calendar year must be declared.