Dizzy got a nice
scoop* yesterday. Basically Silverfish TV have bought up gordonbrown4leader.com and similar sites.
So what? Well Gordon doesn't officially have a campaign and when he does he will be expected to list cash donations and
donations in kind. The Electoral Commission is taking a tough line on this sort of stuff. Silverfish rushed out an explanation that they had bought the domain merely as a speculative punt to make money (something - as Dizzy
points out this morning - is prohibited by the internet authorities).
Guido frankly finds it unbelieveable that Silverfish really were going to try and make a quick profit out of Gordon Brown.
Silverfish.TV are Labour's preferred new media / video producers, doing most recently Scottish and Welsh Labour's Party Political Broadcasts. They also did the
"Dave the Chameleon" video for Labour,
for free. Obviously it costs quite a lot to do an expensive CGI animation, but they didn't charge the Labour party a penny. They do however have a number of juicy contracts awarded by Labour cronies and paid for by the taxpayer.
Do you see a pattern here? The Smith Institute is
paid thousands of pounds to organise seminars for HM Treasury at the taxpayers expense. The Smith Institute gets to use No. 11 Downing Street for seminars
for free. Opinion Leader Research is
paid huge amounts to do polling for HM Treasury. Opinion Leader Research does polling for the Smith Institute
for free. Silverfish are
paid by Downing Street at fat rates, subsidising them to do
"Dave the Chameleon" attack videos and coincidentally buy campaign websites on Gordon's behalf
for free.
It is a corrupt practice, Gordon's campaign bills are being picked up by the taxpayer indirectly. In a secretive, behind closed doors, third-world style,
"you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours way". He
is running an undeclared campaign, it is funded, and no declarations are being made to the Electoral Commission because the funding is covert. Donors get tax relief from HM Treasury on donations to the Smith Institute, which is a charity of which Gordon is the only identifiable beneficiary. His pollster gets HM Treasury contracts and produces positive push polling for him. Labour's friendly new media production outfit similarly wins Whitehall contracts and does work for Labour and Gordon for free.
It has come to something when Nigerian newspapers are running stories about political corruption in Britain which feature the Smith Institute.*Notice how despite Channel 4 News and the Times running with it, no credit was given to Dizzy. They say bloggers are parasitical leeches on the Dead-Tree-Press etc.
The Dead-Tree-Press in the shape of the Guardian's Martin Kettle and even the Daily Mail have hopped on the Where's Gordon?™ Meme. Particularly enjoyed this morning's Where's Gordo game featuring a naked Gordon- which seems to have been pulled from their website this afternoon. Did it displease Dacre? 
