200 Pledge to Back Private Prosecution

Over two hundred people have pledged to contribute financially towards bringing a private prosecution over Loans for Lordships since the CPS has shown itself unwilling to do so.

Guido has taken soundings and now believes that the best course of action is to form a special purpose vehicle to instruct a legal team and take this further. It also seems wise to first allow the Public Administration Select Committee to conduct its investigation when MPs return after the recess. They will hold evidence sessions after Parliament returns from its summer recess, and report by the end of the year.

Tony Wright plans to call Assistant Commissioner John Yates as a witness. It will be particularly interesting to see what evidence comes out at that time. Meantime if you want to be involved in the formation of a vehicle to bring a prosecution or have relevant legal experience and knowledge, email Guido.

The Courts come to a halt and the political class will be on holiday for the next month. Guido will be in touch with pledge makers with more details in due course.

Sir Michael White Loses It

My friend the Axegrinder notes a memo going around the press gallery yesterday sent by the doyen of the Lobby;

"Lost," it said. "A black Mont Blanc fountain pen. If found please return to Michael White, The Guardian, Room 15."

Good to see that the people's ink spills from the pen of plutocrats.

(Yes, it is a slow news day).

Guido's Top Political Blogs

Dale is looking for your list of Top 20 blogs for his 2007 Guide to Political Blogging in the UK. He wants a more objective means of ordering of them. Don't know why, last year the result seemed right to Guido.

I don't have an order of preference, but the blogs Guido reads every day tend to serve up new information rather than commentary. Iain is in there, da Fink's Comment Central, the Speccie's CoffeeHouse, Recess Monkey, the unmissable Political Betting, ConservativeHome, LabourHome and LibDemVoice. Dizzy is reliable, SpyBlog is authoritative. Kevin Maguire often talks down to his readers, but has the odd gem of (sometimes unintended) insight, Benedict Brogan is fast and from the frontline.

My favourite blog overall is probably Mike Smithson's Political Betting.

Email your list to Iain by clicking here and you could win a pile of DVDs and stuff.

Brown Bonks Bonce

Nick Robinson and all the rest of the Lobby will be in full-on pontification mode today in Washington.

Yet again it falls to Guido to get the important news: Gordon Brown banged his head against the door frame as he boarded the Presidential helicopter. Perhaps he misunderstood and was over-excited to be on his way to see Camp David?

Billions spent on the BBC news gathering operation and they miss the big story again.

Rich & Mark's Monday Morning View

Brown stresses 'shared destiny' with US

Boris v Ken - Boris Edges Ahead

YouGov has Boris 6% ahead of Ken with Londoners (46% v 40%), even before he is the official candidate. The detailed data is interesting, Labour voters are more likely to vote for Boris than Tory voters are likely to vote for Ken. Encouraging...

Sith Break the Rules, Sith Change the Rules

The Charity Commission has been foot dragging on reporting any findings from their investigation into the Smith Institute's multiple breaches of the charity laws.

Ed Miliband, the Cabinet Office minister and frequent attendee of Smith Institute events at 11 Downing Street in the past, now reckons "Charities should be free to participate in appropriate ways in political activities. There are clear benefits to society from allowing charities to do so."

Guido is in favour of such a change in the law, but the Charity Commission's Smith Institute investigation should still reach a prompt conclusion. Gordon Brown was the sole beneficiary of a charity which broke the law continuously for five years and acted as a campaign slush fund for him. Nobody is above the law.

The Charity Commission needs to ascertain, in good time, whether or not taxpayers money was diverted to furthering Gordon Brown's private interests.

Lazy Tory Slackers M.I.A.

Iain is having a go at Peter Ainsworth for going M.I.A. (Missing In Airtime) during the floods, Benedict Brogan said something similar about part-time shadow cabinet members recently, a bemused journo told Guido he couldn't believe Hague was missing from the last Zimbabwe debate, the M.I.A. list is endless.

CCHQ is nowadays staffed by people who have never won an election and don't even seem to fight to win the way the usually third placed Cowley Street operators do. CCHQ needs to move to battle-stations rather than the lacking any sense of urgency, business-as-usual default mode.

For every Alan Duncan, Chris Grayling and David Davis there are two Shadow Cabinet slackers. When you remember the mid-90s and compare how New Labour's leading lights grabbed broadcast airtime like it was oxygen, you have to wonder. Do these people really have the drive to win?

Friday Caption Contest

Totty Watch : LibDems Stripping Here

LibDem councillor Myrna Bushell has her own professional website. From it Guido learns that she is "is a very sexy auburn professional multi-talented adult entertainer..." where she boasts that she has recently appeared in Razzle and Fiesta Magazines, (nothing to do with Lord Razzle presumably).

She can strip off various costumes including traditional "French Maid, Schoolgirl, Sexy Nurse, Headmistress, Devil Lady, Catwoman, Jungle Jane, Sexy Secretary, Miss Whiplash, Cowgirl, Miss Santa, Sexy Horseriding lady, Vampiress, Witch, Army Girl, Bunny Girl, Sexy Gypsy Lady etc."

Fantastic. Her website informs us that she is a talented pole dancer as well. But her talent does not end there, she also talks dirty for £1.50 a minute to phone callers, "Proportional representation, prepare for government, fancy a coalition big boy?" Those are the sort of words that usually bring a smile to LibDem's faces, Guido suspects that the language is very, very different in this case.

How have her fellow LibDem councillors reacted to the news? Illiberally - they have resigned in disgust.

Hat-tip : LibDemVoice

Guardian Front page Cock-Up 'Fess Up

Now this is what Guido calls a cavalier attitude to the facts:

Thursday July 26, 2007
Corrections and clarifications

A chart showing David Cameron's personal rating in a Guardian/ICM poll (front page, yesterday) contained several mistakes. It did not include those voters who said they liked both David Cameron and the Conservative party, and muddled some other figures. The correct figures are: likes Cameron, but not the party, 18%; likes Cameron and the party, 25%; doesn't like Cameron, but does like the party, 26%; don't know, 26%. Five per cent refused to answer. Voters were not asked if they did not like both Cameron and the party. We did not make clear that the chart showed figures for all voters, not just Conservative voters.

Just to remind you, the front page graphic showed no-one liking Dave and the Tories. Wishful thinking...

Gordon's Angels - Image Manipulation or Fashion Clash?

Nick Assinder reckons that the "doughnutting" of Gordon at PMQs by Harriet Harman, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and Angela Smith behind him framed him in white on screen.

All three seemed to have been issued with white jackets, black T-shirts and necklaces. Is it some ruse to make him look less dour and saturnine? Jacqui Smith looked like the moody one out of the Human League - which suggests maybe it was a fashion clash rather than sartorial spin.

Incidentally did anyone notice yesterday that the speaker called Cameron, Mr Campbell?

LibDem Auditors Think £2.4m Fraud Money a Liability

When Guido first claimed that the LibDems would have to pay back the stolen £2.4m that was their biggest donation, the blog's comments were filled with claims from LibDems that it was sensationalist nonsense. Guido stuck to his guns that the LibDems and Sinn Fein were the only two parties in British politics dependent on bank robberies for their funding.

It seems their auditors agree with Guido. They only signed off the latest accounts on the basis that the £2.4m was a contingent liability for the party. The LibDems may not be benefiting from the proceeds of crime for much longer...

Guardian/ICM Poll : Nobody Likes Dave and Tory Party?

Guido was sure his brain was too addled by alcohol when he saw the front page of the Guardian this morning. Rich Johnston emailed it in and the penny didn't drop until he explained it slowly. According to the Guardian's ICM poll sample of 1005 randomly telephoned adults, not one single person likes David Cameron and the Conservative Party. Some like the party, some like Dave, but none like both. Guido knew the polls were bad for Dave, but really, does no one like 'em both?

UPDATE : Turns out that it was a difficult to explain Grauniad cock-up, the actual figures from ICM were very different - 25% liked both Dave and the Tories. Pretty "cavalier with the facts" report, it should have been obvious that something was wrong, maybe over at the Guardian they can more easily believe that nobody likes Cameron. In the real world he is a bit more popular than on Farringdon road.

Hungover.

Badly.

Wot, No Little & Large?

Since that little embarrassment over the reporting of postal votes in Ealing Southall, the Telegraph's Little & Large blog has gone silent. The last posting was a week ago.

If Guido shut up shop every time a writ was threatened...

Was it Mad to Give Cash to Tories?

Guido is particularly enjoying the court reports about the loon who gave £10 million to the Tories to fight satanic forces. Branislav Kostic believed there was an international conspiracy of more than 100 people masterminded by sexually perverted pharmaceutical company executives to destroy "freedom, democracy and human purity". His son is in court fighting the will. The counsel for the Tories argues Kostic might have been mad, but it was rational to fight satanic forces by giving cash to Margaret Thatcher's Tories. After all, who was it who defeated those Godless atheist Soviet Communists?

Over the years Guido has enjoyed his chemically-enhanced, international sexual frolics and would like to extend his gratitude to the pharmaceutical masterminds who made it possible. Would rather they left freedom and democracy alone mind you.

Benji Blog - the View from the Bunker

Benji Wegg Prosser, has started a blog. Well he started it last month and he seems to have managed to make one post per month. It does have one revelation, the "Blue Peter" memo about Blair "leaving with the crowds wanting more" was not as Guido speculated. The product of Philip Gould, it was all BWP's own work. Benji says it all came to pass as he predicted in the bunker...

Private Prosecution Fund Update

As of now 145 people on the PledgeBank website have indicated they want to financially support a private prosecution. You can also pledge via Facebook and even text 'pledge cash4prosecution' to 60022 from your mobile phone. Old fashioned email works as well.

If you can help with this project contact Guido ASAP.

BackBoris.Com

Boris has tidied up his campaign website a little. There is no interactivity (as yet) or compelling proposition to return you to the site once you sign up and subscribe for the email. We are told to expect more bells and whistles.

Victoria Borwicks site is actually better, Warwick Lightfoot's is busier and has podcasts and videos. Andrew Boff's site asks you to be patient with just a tear dropping. Was he surprised to get through?

Rich & Mark's Monday Morning View

Insufficient Evidence

Which 2 Have Written to the '22?

Melissa Kite's Telegraph story claiming that "At least two MPs, and possibly as many as half a dozen, have written to Sir Michael Spicer, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, to call for a vote of no confidence, it can be revealed today" is a little less precise than her much derided prediction of a "senior treasury role for David Ruffley" in the Tory reshuffle.

Who are the two who want Dave to go?

Surge of Net-Roots Support for a Private Prosecution

Since yesterday pledges of support for a private prosecution have come in thick and fast on the main PledgeBank website and a few via Facebook. You can even text 'pledge cash4prosecution' to 60022 from your mobile phone. One substantial financial pledge via email will hopefully not be the last.

At this preliminary stage the intention is to convene a legal conference before the end of the month and go through the issues and examine the possible approaches including the establishment of a vehicle with a legally qualified advisory committee.

Guido is keenly aware of potential hurdles and risks. Surely the Attorney General will not be able to argue that the public interest is best served by turning a blind eye to what was manifestly an attempt to circumvent the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 Act? How will the public interest be harmed by testing in a court before a jury the legality of the Loans for Lordships scheme?

One example will give you a flavour of the Loans for Lordships scheme - Gulam Noon has publicly stated that he made a £250,000 donation to the Labour party, which he correctly submitted (via Downing Street) on his vetting papers for the House of Lords Appointments Commission. Two days later on October 5, 2005 Lord Levy, Gulam Noon reportedly claims, telephoned him and referred to the £250,000 donation as a "loan" which need not be disclosed on his vetting papers. The Levy-intercepted and revised vetting papers were submitted to the House of Lords Appointments Commission, now without mention of the £250,000 "loan" / donation. When the Commission independently discovered the existence of the "loan" / donation they blocked the peerage - as presumably Lord Levy knew they would - why else would he intervene in the process? What was the Labour party's chief fundraiser doing intervening in the honours process anyway? Prima facie there is a case to answer. If the CPS won't bring it, they should at least not attempt to block others from doing so.

UPDATE : The first target of one hundred people making pledges of financial support for a private prosecution has been met in less than 24 hours.

Private Prosecution : Pledge Support

Graphic courtesy of Beau Bo D'Or

Guido has been in discussion with some of m'learned friends after a careful reading of the CPS statement. The CPS has decided on a bar set very high to justify not prosecuting under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 (‘the 1925 Act’).

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act, 2000 (‘the 2000 Act’) was dealt with far too perfunctorily in the CPS statement. More than one legal authority consulted by Guido thinks that there are avenues open to a private prosecution via the 2000 Act which have the advantage of not requiring the proving of a conspiracy.

The weakest part of the CPS statement is point 30:

In relation to possible breaches of the 2000 Act, we are satisfied that we cannot exclude the possibility that any loans made – all of which were made following receipt by the Labour Party of legal advice - can properly be characterised as commercial.

There are a number of related suspected offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 governing the evasion of restrictions on donations which provide a firm and clear basis for action. Crucially, a prosecution on this basis would avoid the difficulties of having to prove a conspiracy. It would also have the advantage that there are statements from donors already in the public domain which, contrary to the stated view of the CPS, exclude the possibility that the loans were made, or intended to be made, on a commercial basis.

The attempt by Levy et al to portray themselves as the victims of an over zealous policeman are contemptible. They deliberately subverted the law in a secret attempt to cover up donations made by persons they later put forward for honours. A fact they deliberately and disingenuously hid from House of Lords Appointment Committee. If you want to see justice done and the law upheld, pledge your support for a private prosecution here.

Rumours of CCHQ Recriminations

Guido is trying to get confirmation of senior Cameroonie quitting / threatening to quit. Wasn't this scripted for Cowley Street not Millbank?

UPDATED : George Bridges has quit according to unofficial but reliable sources.

Full text of the CPS Decision

Full text PDF here.

Friday Caption Contest

Do You Believe there is No Connection Between Cash and Honours?

Tony Blair created 292 peers. Millions were raised from the recipients of those honours.

The correlation between making large donations to the Labour Party and receiving an honour is extraordinary. Statistical analysis shows that 58.54% of all donors giving more than £50,000 to the Labour Party receive an honour. This compares to just 0.035% of non-donors. Large Labour Party donors are 1,657 times more likely to receive an honour than a non-donor and 6,969 times more likely to receive a peerage. It is almost impossible to avoid the conclusion that the Labour Party has been selling honours, including places in the House of Lords. An analysis of all donations over £50,000 since 2001 reveals that Honour certainly has its price. We publish below the average amount donated by the recipients of various honours – an “Honours Price List”. Those receiving a Peerage have given £1.07 million on average, and a Knighthood £747,000...

Source : The Price of Dishonour

Funding Facts:

• 80% of Labour's election funding came from the covert Loans for Lordship program.
• Every donor who has given the party more than £1 million has been given a knighthood or a peerage.
• Three quarters of those individuals who have given more than £50,000 to the Labour Party since 2001 have received an honour.

Laughing at Chris Bryant

Croydonian draws Guido's attention to Chris Byrant's question to Michael Wills, the new Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice "Does he believe that one of the most important British values is our ability to laugh at ourselves."

That would be the same Chris Bryant who won £10,000 off the Guardian for parodying him, threatened Iain Dale with a writ and told a Press Commission sponsored event that Iain and Guido would get a kicking in the courts soon. Chris Bryant strikes Guido as someone who does not have much of an ability to laugh at himself.

Though, as this picture illustrates, he has provided us with a few laughs over the years...

CameroonHome

Last week Guido reflected on Fiona Melville's planned rival to ConservativeHome.com known as Platform 10. Guido jokingly described it as potentially CameroonHome.com. So it was with some amusement that Guido learnt from a co-conspirator that Fiona had taken note of the suggestion and registered the name.

Domain Name: CAMEROONHOME.ORG
Created On: 17-Jul-2007 22:18:07 UTC
Last Updated On: 18-Jul-2007 00:37:28 UTC
Expiration Date: 17-Jul-2008 22:18:07 UTC
Registrant Name: Fiona Melville

Coincidence? Get in touch Fiona...

BBC - Criminal Conspiracy?

If BBC staff knowingly deceived viewers into believing that they could win a prize by calling a premium rate phone number when they knew they could not, isn't that a conspiracy to defraud?

What do m'learned friends think?

Been a Bit Busy Today

To those complaining in the comments about the lack of activity today, Guido does have some extra new family commitments who take priority over entertaining a load of webmongs.

Bought a new Citroen people carrier* this morning to transport the expanded brood around in. Five years ago, a bachelor Guido was zooming around in a Lotus sports car with his stereo blasting, now he drives a lemon with wailing in stereo. C'est la vie...

*We're in the South of France for the summer.

Ali Campbell Diaries Pirated In Digital Format

Guido has, almost daily for the last week been sent, from different sources, a pirated PDF digital version of the Ali Campbell Diaries print manuscript. Saves buying it and putting money in the f*****s pocket.

Couldn't happen to a nicer chap...

One of Guido's corresponding co-conspirators did a search of the PDF file for swear words:

There are, unsurprisingly, 135 references to the word "fuck", more, infact than in Dr. Dre's seminal gangsta rap album "The Chronic".

There are also 38 uses of the word "shit", 5 "cunts", 2 "bitches", 13 "wankers" as well as 1 "collective wank", 29 "dicks" but only one obvious "penis".

Has Campbell got a form of Tourettes to add to his depressive tendencies?

UPDATE : Comments are closed and Guido has deleted comments linking to the online pirated version. Even Alastair Campbell has property rights.

Snouts in Trough : Cash for Passes

Sam Coates in The Times has a piece on Lords lining their pockets with lobbying consultancies and doling out handy Westminster security passes to lobbyists in return. These Cash for Passes deals mean that some of the bars in the Palace of Westminster are packed with twentysomething lobbyists who do nothing but lubricate the Mother of Parliaments for vested interests.

In the U.S. lobbyists have to register and publicly declare their clients. We need a similar system that also forces them to declare any payments to lawmakers.

Why Boris Will Win

Turnout was 36.95% in the 2004 Mayoral elections. Ken actually got the support of only 10% of the potential electorate. The Tories are more popular now than before and they have in Boris a likeable candidate. Is that alone enough for him to win? Maybe.

	Party	Name	1st choice Votes	1st choice %	2nd choice Votes	2nd choice %
	Labour Party	Livingstone, Ken	685,541	35.70%	250,517	13.04%
	Conservative Party	Norris, Steve	542,423	28.24%	222,559	11.59%
	Liberal Democrats	Hughes, Simon	284,645	14.82%	465,704	24.25%

He is extremely popular with the Conservative grassroots and if Boris just succeeds in motivating them to go out and vote, he will win. On the basis of the last election's results Boris needs to get an extra 1 in 5 Tory sympathisers in London to go to the polling station. This is without the extra oomph from the Conservatives nationally polling better than in 2004. Boris inspires a great deal of enthusiasm, he will without doubt energise that base. He also has first-name brand recognition. If Labour tacticians think they can fight him as a posh buffoon they are making a mistake just like the Tories made in thinking they could portray Gordon as a left-winger. Boris will never appeal to a certain type of left-winger, but he doesn't have to, he just has to get the stay-at-home Tories down to the polling station.

People seem to forget that Boris got to Eton on a scholarship, not because he was a toff, the buffoon tag can be shaken off easily.

Boris Campaign Under Way

Guido hears that Dan Ritterband, who was key in Cameron's leadership campaign, has switched from backing Nick Boles (pulled out due to serious illness) to campaigning for Boris. A campaigning web-site will be live soon...

UPDATE : BackBoris.Com is live.

Boris! Confirmed!

There is joy unabounded in Guido's cellar.

In fact this calls for a drink...


UPDATE : You can call Tory Radio now on 0845 257-0-427 and leave a message of support for later broadcast - "I'm Backing Boris because..."

Rich & Mark's Monday Morning View

Tory candidate Tony Lit's company gave £4,800 to Labour

E-Oh, Stand-Up, Speak Up

Is it just Guido, over-exposed to two-year-old Ms Fawkes' television viewing choices as he is, or does the new Stand-Up, Speak Up site look like it was based on the design for the Teletubbies?

The glossy new Conservatives.Com website looks a bit more groovy and blog-like a