James Forsyth

James Forsyth

James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.

Could Wendy Alexander be collateral damage?

Over at that new daily must-read The Three Line Whip, Iain Martin has news of a letter that puts Wendy Alexander in a very difficult position. Alexander wrote to Paul Green, who as a tax exile is not entitled to make political contributions, to thank him for donating to her campaign. Wendy, sister of Douglas

James Forsyth

The limit to Alan Johnson’s ambition

If–and this is still phenomenally unlikely–this current sleaze scandal either topples Gordon Brown or brings about a challenge to him, Alan Johnson is being tipped as the man to watch. He is certainly the opposite of Brown—charming, comfortable in his own skin and English—and is, as Nick Boles wrote in The Spectator during the Blair

James Forsyth

Things can only get worse | 30 November 2007

There was a moment of unintentional humour during Jack Straw’s interview on the Today Programme when he was asked if Labour had changed the culture as well as the law around fundraising and replied, “We have changed the culture quite considerably”. You can say that again, Jack.  The problem for Labour is that this scandal

James Forsyth

It just keeps coming

This evening, Peter Hain has announced that his campaign failed to register a £5,000 donation from Jon Mendelsohn, the chief fundraiser who was told by Peter Watt of how Abrahams was donating money back in the autumn. It is also been reported that it was Gordon Brown’s campaign manager, Chris Leslie, who put the Harman

Tories with biggest ever YouGov lead

The new YouGov poll for the Telegraph puts the Tories 11 points ahead, which is the first time the pollsters have found the Tories to have a double digit advantage. Add to this the fact that Labour’s funding practises are now to be investigated by the police (again) and the worsening economic conditions and it

James Forsyth

What more is there to come?

Martin Bright has a typically excellent column in the New Statesman about this whole fundraising scandal. Here’s the key graf: “Claims that no one but Watt knew what was going on are already unravelling. As the story broke, one former Labour fundraiser told me: “It just doesn’t wash. You make it your business to know

Will Gordon listen to this advice?

Jackie Ashley, a commentator who is generally seen as on side with the Brown project, has written a piece on how the Prime Minister can begin to recover. She spends most of the article explaining why the green shoots of recovery were already popping up at PMQs but there is a real sting in the

James Forsyth

Who called Brown Mr Bean first?

Vince Cable’s new nickname for the Prime Minister looks like sticking and so we now have to work out who can claim credit for it. As Stephen points out, Leo McKinistry used it in his Express column on November 19th. Can anyone find an earlier usage? Leo concluded his column by saying, “Brown shows all

James Forsyth

Gordon Brown couldn’t sack Harriet Harman even if he wanted to

Three Line Whip, the new Telegraph politics blog, points out that because Harriet Harman was elected by the Labour party membership she serves at their pleasure not Gordon Brown’s. This means that Ms Harman is safe unless this scandal meta-sizes again. Also worth checking out at the Three Line Whip, which promises to become a

James Forsyth

Quote of the day

Vince Cable’s contribution at PMQ’s today was a classic: “This House has noted the Prime Minister’s remarkable transformation from Stalin to Mr Bean in the past few weeks.”

James Forsyth

Gordon Brown’s moment of decision

Nick Robinson sets out what he believes Jon Mendelson knew and when he knew it in this blog entry. The series of events as laid out raises serious questions about Mendelson’s judgement Mendelson is a Brown appointee and if he remains in post, and Sky is reporting that the Brown camp are inclined to protect

James Forsyth

Labour fundraising scandal takes a dramatic turn

Nick Robinson has just reported on the Today Programme that Jon Mendelsohn had been told by Peter Watt, the Labour Secretary General who has already resigned over this scandal, how David Abrahams was making these donations to the Labour party. Mendelsohn was unhappy with the arrangement but reportedly did not inform the relevant people at

Abrahams speaks

The mysterious David Abrahams called into Newsnight this evening and his exchange with Jeremy Paxman makes things even murkier but does seem to bring the scandal closer to Downing Street. Just to add to the list of questions that now need answering, the Dunns have now remembered being given money by Abrahams and in exchange

James Forsyth

The latest twists in the fundraising scandal

Gordon Brown’s press conference was, unsurprisingly, dominated by the Labour fundraising scandal. Notably, Brown described Peter Watt’s resignation as a “necessary first step.” He also expressed his confidence in Harriet Harman’s explanation of how she ended up accepting an improper donation. Although, Nick Robinson thinks that Harriet Harman should be “Worry. Very worried” by what Brown

James Forsyth

More bad headlines for Labour

The morning papers are dominated by the Labour fundraising scandal and the resignation of the Labour Secretary-General Peter Watt. The Daily Telegraph reports that, “David Abrahams, the millionaire property developer at the centre of the furore, won planning permission for a controversial development after the Highways Agency, under the department run by the then Transport

Labour fall through the 30 percent floor

A new ComRes poll has Labour at 27%, Conservative Home is reporting tonight. This is the lowest number Labour has recorded in this poll since April 2007 while the Conservative lead of 13 points is the largest one they have had with ComRes since it started regularly doing voting intention polls in October 2006.  The