James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
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
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
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
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
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
Guido explains why.
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
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
When Nick Robinson dropped the bombshell on the Today Programme that Jon Mendelsohn had known about how David Abrahams was funnelling money to the Labour party, I assumed that—if this was true—Mendelsohn would be gone by PMQs. But he’s still there tonight. Mendelsohn’s has stated that he was aware of what was going on, he
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
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
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.”
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
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
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
I’d urge you to read Stephen Pollard on how well known David Abrahams was on the Labour circuit in the 1990s and this post from Boulton and co by Joey Jones, the two posts taken together suggest that this story will run and run, . Jones spoke to Baroness Jay this morning about why the
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
Daniel Finkelstein flags up the key questions that Labour must answer about this whole fundraising affair. Do read the whole thing.
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
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
