Hain Brought to Book

The news that Peter Hain is working on a biography of Nelson Mandela is very disappointing. Guido was hoping that Hain, who already has a criminal conviction for conspiracy, might start work on a follow-up to his 1984 book, Political Trials in Britain (still available on Amazon.)

There should be an opportunity to update it with topical first hand reports. That is if the CPS decides, for once, to prosecute a politician who breaks the law. Scotland Yard has handed over the file to the CPS. Just to re-cap, over a hundred thousand pounds was mysteriously laundered through a slush fund called the Progressive Policies Forum. Nobody had heard of this before and none of the donations were declared. Steve Morgan his campaign manager blames everyone else, Hain blames him. We all eagerly await their day in Court...

Morgan Allen Moore Libel Case Close to Collapse

Readers may or may not know that Peter Hain's campaign manager's lobby firm, Morgan Allen Moore, was suing for defamation the person who reported them to the lobby industry's APPC disciplinary committee over their role in his campaign. Notice that they did not seek to sue Guido for defamation. The whole purpose of the lawsuit was to halt the progress of the disciplinary committee investigation by making it sub judice and quash the complaint by pressurising James Davenport into withdrawing for fear of legal expenses and a lengthy case. To his credit he has refused to back down.

The central allegation made here and repeated in Davenport's formal complaint was that Steve Morgan and Morgan Allen Moore provided undeclared services to Peter Hain's campaign in terms of staff and resources in breach of the rules.

In a sworn statement provided to the Court, Richard Moore, Steve Morgan's co-director denied this was true. Devastating documentary evidence has come to light directly contradicting Richard Moore's claim. The evidence reveals that donors were instructed to send Hain4Labour campaign donations to the Morgan Allen Moore office where the cheques would be processed by Morgan Allen Moore staff.

So Guido is happy to repeat that Morgan the Organ's MAM office was effectively Hain's campaign base and that MAM staff such as Kate Lewis were running the campaign. This clearly breaks the APPC's Code of Conduct.

Guido is happy to testify and provide the evidence...

Setting the Story Straight on Hain's "Surreal" Conspiracy Theory

Some readers have been asking about the Western Mail story about fake emails where Peter Hain dons the cloak of victimhood and complains of a dirty tricks vendetta against him involving Guido. The story has now hit the news wires. This is Guido's side of the story.

Hain claims

"Someone has persistently been sending material designed to discredit me to the right wing Guido Fawkes website. Some of the material has also been sent to the Western Mail. In the main it has been fabricated. My campaign failed and as a result of this scapegoating and these dirty tricks, I have lost my Cabinet job. The whole thing is a surreal nightmare and I don’t know what is behind it."

It is true that Guido got hold of and published Hain's campaign budget. That set in course a chain of events that led eventually to a few small shortfalls becoming public knowledge on the front pages. The small matter, for instance, of £103,000 in hidden campaign donations now under investigation by the police.

Hain knows, though the way he slants it a reader would not know, that Guido did not fall for the fake email scam. Which is what Guido told Peter Black.

Guido didn't publish any of the fake emails or use them. It became clear very early on that as much as Guido might have wanted to believe the tantalising tale they told (they contained nuggets of truth), what became obvious in a short time was somebody pursuing a disinformation agenda. There is clearly someone who has a keen interest in muddying the waters regarding emails. It is not Peter Hain and nor is it Guido. The faker desperately wanted to get the fake emails on this blog, probably to discredit a genuine email that is causing them acute legal difficulties.

Guido doesn't usually like to reveal his dealings with the dead-tree-press but, for the record and for the avoidance of any doubt in this case, Guido can confirm that it was he who gave the story and examples of the faked emails over to the Western Mail's Martin Shipton when the faker realised that Guido was on to him. As the Press Association wire story reports - the faked emails were sent after Peter Hain resigned.

So to be clear:

• the faked emails started circulating only after Hain resigned.
• have not so far been published by Guido or anyone else.
• their existence has come to light because Guido gave them over to the Western Mail's Martin Shipton to investigate.

So nobody should be fooled into thinking Hain was brought down by a dirty tricks campaign based on fake emails. They should ask themselves cui bono? Who has an interest right now in presenting that as the reality? Clue - it isn't Hain or Guido...

Hain's Future Picture Cloudy

Guido previously suggested that Peter Hain could find an alternative career as a politico-celebrity endorser of commercial services.

Alas perhaps this is not to be, Hain's ringing commerical endorsement of Picture Financial Services plc has not helped the business. It closed to new business in February as it got into financial difficulties and is now rumoured to be about to change hands in a fire-sale for 1p.

Not exactly the picture of success envisioned by Hain in his endorsement.

Elsewhere Morgan Allan Moore, the spin firm that ran Hain's leadership campaign and secured his endorsements for clients who were donors, had lined up to be taken over in a multi-million pound deal. Alas as the company has become mired in an ethical standards inquiry that deal has been aborted. Hain has not brought good fortune to his friends.

Most serious of all, the ongoing police investigation has, it is rumoured, uncovered some interesting spending by Hain's campaign that might not please the GMB brothers.

Guido suspects the union members will not appreciate the way their hard-earned subs were spent by the champagne swilling radical...

Sad ex-SpAd Slacker

Matthew Burchell, Hain's former special adviser, is finding the pace outside of the public sector a little bracing. A month after becoming unemployed he has yet to get round to writing his CV if this status update on Facebook is anything to go by. If you are hoping Matthew to return by the side of a vindicated Hain, forget it. It seems that it is getting very messy for the Tango man...

Working for Peter Hain is going to be something you would rather not have on your CV, so it can't be easy for Matthew. Let this be a warning to all uppity snotty SpAds...

Exclusive :Leaked Email Reveals Another Undeclared Hain Donation

The Association of Professional Political Consultants emergency meeting of its management committee scheduled for today will consider a complaint about Steve Morgan of Morgan Allen Moore, ("MAM") the public aff­airs firm linked to the Peter Hain's donations.

Morgan the Organ not only made a £5,000 donation to the fake think-tank and allowed the Hain4Labour campaign to use MAM off­ices. Cheques to Hain4Labour were sent via the Cardiff offices of MAM before ending up in the campaign coffers. The fake Progressive Polices Forum think tank shares a London address with MAM as well.

These actions breach the APPC code of conduct, which states that members

must keep strictly separate from their duties and activities as political consultants any personal activity or inv­olvement on behalf of a pol­itical party.

Steve Morgan is presumably going to try and claim that this was all done in a personal capacity. Herein lies a problem, the Hain4Labour campaign had use of MAM staff. For example Kate Lewis, head of MAM's Cardiff office was working on the campaign - which also begs the question why no donation in kind was registered? Her services do not come cheap and would not fall below the non-declarable £1000 threshold.

From: "Steve Morgan"
To: "Geraint Davies", "Kate Lewis", "Hugh Roberts", "Andrew Stallard", "Wayne David", "CARBERRY, Joe", "Albert Owen", "Chris Ruane", "Huw ID", "Eluned Morgan"

Subject: Meeting
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 16:20

Thanks for coming to the meeting with Peter on Saturday we're really glad to have you on board and grateful for your support for Peter's campaign.

There are two items we need to deal with immediately.

1. First meeting date.

If everyone's ( MPs are welcome but there's no whip!!) happy to meet in Cardiff for an hour over lunch we can use my offices down on the Bay. Can you make either the 8th, 13th or 14th of March?

2. Wales-wide network.

We talked about getting a key supporter in every constituency. If you know of anyone who can fill these roles for us can you let me know (with contact details please) before we meet. Can you also let me know which constituencies you're in.

Thanks

Steve

The significance of this email is twofold; it was sent from Morgan the Organ's MAM office and demonstrates that MAM was effectively Hain's campaign base and that MAM staff such as Kate Lewis were running the campaign. This clearly breaks the APPC's Code of Conduct.

It also means that there is yet another undeclared to the Electoral Commission benefit-in-kind donation probably worth tens of thousands of pounds...

Hain Alternative Jobs Competition Winner

There was one diamond in the rough out of the competition entries from BrianSJ:

I think that Peter Hain would be ideal as the next James Bond. Bond has very little time for bean counters and paperwork, he has a high opinion of himself and he bends a few rules if that helps. The tan and man of the world looks are perfect for the part.

He needs a Quantum of Solace just now. He could star in:

Diamonds Are From Sponsors
Dr No If No Buts
The Man with the Golden Face
Tomorrow Never Lies
Goldfinger in the Till
Goldenlie

(Hopefully) You Only Live Once

The World is Not Enough, Thunderballs etc are fine as titles.

Cassandra suggested Dye Another Day, alas there is only one winner, so if Brian emails Guido with his postal address a copy of The Big Red Book of New Labour Sleaze will be sent to him.

APPC Calls Emergency Meeting Over Hain Lobby Firm

PR Week is reporting that the spin industry's self regulatory organisation, the Association of Professional Political Consultants, has called an emergency meeting of its management committee on 28 January to look into a complaint about Morgan Allen Moore, the public aff­airs firm linked to the Peter Hain's donations.

APPC chair Gill Morris called the meeting after receiving a formal complaints concerning a number of breaches of the lobbyists code of conduct by Morgan Allen Moore.

Morgan the Organ made a £5,000 donation to the fake think-tank and allowed the Hain4Labour campaign to use Morgan Allen Moore off­ices. Cheques to Hain4Labour were sent via the Cardiff offices of Morgan Allen Moore before ending up in the campaign coffers. The fake think tank shares an address with Morgan Allen Moore as well.

These actions breach section 12 of the APPC code of conduct, which states that members

must keep strictly separate from their duties and activities as political consultants any personal activity or inv­olvement on behalf of a pol­itical party.

Steve Morgan is going to try and claim that this was all done in a personal capacity. Think carefully Steve, Guido is watching...

Competition : Alternative Career Suggestions for Hain

Now he has more time on his hands we should really be charitable and come up with a few suggestions for alternative careers for Peter Hain. He is after all heavily in debt, owing campaign debts of £41,200.

He needs the money. One obvious suggestion is doing celebrity endorsements. He has already endorsed Tesco, Picture Financial, Cuddy Construction and Freshwater UK.

Perhaps he could endorse St Tropez fake tanning lotion? Tango drinks? Orange phones? Best suggestion in the comments wins a copy of The Big Red Book of New Labour Sleaze.

How Guido Destroyed Hain's Ambitions in 12 Months

On January 29, 2007 Guido threw Hain's leadership campaign into disarray by revealing his campaign strategy and supporters. It led to chaos in Hain4Labour. The leak meant that nobody in the campaign trusted anybody.

In May 2007 Guido revealed the Hain4Labour campaign budget and that sleazy lobbyist Steve Morgan was arranging the financing.

On the morning of December 3, 2007 Guido chased down an undeclared donor and talked to Hain's Special Adviser Joe Carberry to ask about missing undeclared donations. That afternoon Hain went to see the Electoral Commission.

On January 8 this year Guido revealed the links between campaign donors and endorsements from Hain.

Get the full background to the story:

All Guido's recent Hain stories. All Guido's older Hain stories.

+++ HAIN TO RESIGN +++

+++ SKY HAIN DONATIONS MET POLICE TO INVESTIGATE +++

Fourth Company Endorsed by Hain Got£1m from Welsh Assembly Government

When Peter Hain is eventually reshuffled away or forced out of office he can just continue his career in advertising making those celebrity endorsements; "St Tropez, for a perma-tan, will last longer than my career..."

Here is a fourth corporate endorsement, he praised a firm as a "modern, dynamic company" which he wanted to see go "from strength to strength" in the run up to their stock market floatation. It is handy for a Cardiff based spin firm doing government relations if the Welsh Secretary himself gives you a boost despite the obvious conflict of interest. Very reassuring to potential investors...

Freshwater UK plc, which even more handily also got a £1m investment from the Welsh Assembly Government development arm, had coincidentally paid £10,000 for a table at a Labour fundraiser four days prior that ringing endorsement. Peter Hain was seated at the Freshwater table at the event, which was also attended by John Underwood, Freshwater's business development director and Hain's campaign treasurer. It was Underwood who set up the faux think tank as well to channel money to Hain4Labour. Yet another amazing coincidence in the Hain saga...

The London Evening Standard has been trying to get hold of Hain4Labour's campaign manager, the increasingly elusive Morgan the Organ. Morgan Allen Moore's vice-chairman Richard Moore told the Standard that the fake think tank matter sharing a registered office with them was "purely coincidental". "The only connection between Morgan Allen Moore and the Progressive Policies Forum is that we have the same registered address with a firm of London solicitors."

Too many coincidences to be believable.

Steve Morgan Sleaze Investigation

The Spin Industry's self regulatory body, the APPC, describes itself "as the representative and regulatory body for UK public affairs professionals in the consultancy sector." It was set up in the wake of brown-envelope lobbyist scandals by some of the more respectable lobbying firms to try and prevent the most egregious happenings that are endemic to a murky industry.

Guido has learnt that the APPC has received a complaint from James Davenport, a former employee of Morgan Allen Moore, concerning ten separate breaches of the APPC Code of Conduct by Steve Morgan, Hain's campaign manager. The book is well and truly being thrown at "Morgan the Organ"...

Official Complaint About Ministry for Incompetence's SpAds

Peter Hain's DWP employs numerous Special Advisers who are paid for by the taxpayer and barred from doing party political work. SpAds are Civil Servants and must abide by specific rules laid out in a code. Yesterday the SpAds sent out a press release headlined

"TORIES AIM TO DESTROY FINAL SALARY PENSION SCHEMES"

The press release includes the line "don't ever vote Tory". Guido is no expert, but he suspects that may breach the code's requirement that "They should act in a way which upholds the political impartiality of civil servants".

The Taxpayers Alliance keeps a hawkish eye on government waste and has made an official complaint to Sir Leigh Lewis, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Work and Pensions about the behaviour of his department's SpAds campaigning on the public payroll for the Labour Party. Are the DWP SpAds going to blame it like their boss does on incompetence or amnesia?

Hat-tip : Taxpayers Alliance

Hain's Ryder Cup Cash Link

Peter Hain is getting a lot of cheering from Labour MPs during an unusually well attended session of Welsh questions this morning. Labour backbenchers have clearly decided, perhaps with encouragement from the whips, to prop up the Welsh Secretary. They are cheering him, as Guido writes, for "bringing the Ryder Cup to Wales".

No opposition MP had the wit to question the conflict of interest and propriety of Hain receiving a £1,500 donation to his campaign from PGA Ryder Cup PR firm TM Communications. More here...

Why Don't Politicians Have a Specific Donations Account?

Dizzy makes a splendidly straightforward suggestion, why don't politicians have one bank account for donations? They then record each transaction's source on a register. Guido would also suggest that benefits-in-kind went on the same register. Both the account and register records would be made publicly available online.

If a politician failed to report an item within 30 days they would get a fixed fine of £100. If they failed to report an item after 60 days a £1,000 fine. If they fail to report an item after 90 days a mandatory one month suspension from the house - unpaid.

Party and constituency reporting would continue as now. To accept donations any other way would be a criminal offence. Simple enough even for the most incompetent politician...

Steve Morgan Distances Himself From Fake PPF Think Tank

The biggest rat on the Hain gravy boat is deserting the sinking ship. "My work ended the day the election for deputy leader took place [June 24]. Aside from personally donating £5,000 to the thinktank [sic] I have not been involved in fundraising for the thinktank."

As an experienced spin merchant he is executing a PR technique known as CYA - Cover Your Arse...

UPDATE : Ian Gibson MP, not Morgan told the Guardian that he is "revolted" that the PPF appeared to have been established solely to channel funds to Hain's campaign. The Guardian "article was amended on Tuesday January 15 2008. We conflated quotes from Ian Gibson and Steve Morgan in error. This has been corrected." So Guido has amended this posting and deleted comments based on a reading of the article.

The Silent Trials and Tribunals of Peter Hain

People forget that Hain already has a criminal conviction for conspiracy. It was this experience that presumably provided the basis for his 1984 book, Political Trials in Britain (still available on Amazon.)

During his conspiracy trial Hain elected not to give evidence, Lord Justice Roskill finding him guilty emphasised "He gave no explanation of his part over the incidents with which he was charged."

In another legal case, Donna Easter, a 32 year-old single mother of two who worked in Mr Hain's constituency office in Neath, took him to an industrial tribunal - she allegedly was paid £35 for supposedly a 15-hour week. There were allegations floating around at the time that she was also paid from petty cash to allow her to continue claiming benefits. Hain was not at the hearing in Cardiff, despite his desk at the Welsh Office being only 300 yards way.

Rachel Davies, the tribunal chairwoman, said: "It is unfortunate that Mr Hain is not present today to put his side of the case". The tribunal found unanimously in her favour and she was awarded compensation of £2,746 and £299 holiday pay. Similarly today Hain once again stays silent when he is in the shit, as speculation grows that the police will be called in...

Mystery of Missing Clients

The two PR firms involved in donations to Hain's campaign had something very interesting happen when Hain's donor troubles hit the headlines. As you can see from the above screenshots, things started disappearing. Counter-productively for them this intrigued Guido. Morgan Allen Moore's client list disappeared and T M Communications entire website went offline - which is strange for experts in "technology and communications".

So Guido started digging around for their client lists. That is how the coincidence between Steve Morgan's client Tesco and Hain's "Every Little Helps" endorsement was uncovered.

TM Communications are not registered lobbyists with the APPC so their client list wasn't on the register. It took some investigative digging to find a client list already in the public domain from their now deleted website. Their clients include Newport Networks, The Professional Golfers Association, and investment group Wesley Clover.

Newport Networks was set-up by Welsh billionaire Sir Terry Matthews, who is also the chairman of Wesley Clover and his Celtic Manor Golf Resort will be hosting the PGA Ryder Cup in 2010.

TM Communications say that their £1,500 donation to Hain's campaign was made by them "on behalf of the directors and shareholders". Not Sir Terry, he "doesn't do politics".