The Peter Hain affair just keeps on rolling

Now you can read in the Times that "The election watchdog is considering referring Peter Hain to the police over his failure to declare more than £100,000 in donations, Mr Hain’s prospects of clinging on to political office darkened last night as he was accused by an authoritative source of showing “contempt” for the laws on political funding. The Electoral Commission began an investigation into the Work and Pensions Secretary after he admitted last week that he had failed to declare properly £103,000 in gifts to his failed deputy leadership bid.

The watchdog now faces a stark choice between letting him off without punishment or recommending a criminal prosecution if it finds that he broke rules on when donations should be reported.

The scale of the donations, as well as Mr Hain’s claim that he was too busy to ensure that the rules were followed properly, have increased significantly the likelihood that it will seek to make an example of him."


Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...



Even the BBC have had to report this, but they have also made prominent that "He says he has been "open and clear" and will co-operate with any inquiry.".

Of course BBC/Nu Lab couldn't leave it at that and so have decided to throw some more mud at the Conservatives with this bit of nonsensical conflating "Meanwhile, the BBC has learned that Tory leader David Cameron failed to tell the Electoral Commission about three free flights he took during his leadership campaign in 2005.

The donated flights are registered in David Cameron's name in the Commons register of members' interest, but do not appear in the Electoral Commission's record.

The commission says a donation of more than £1,000 must be declared and it is estimated these flights would have cost between £3,000 to £8,000.

However Mr Cameron's office said the costs could be split between the number of people on board, keeping the amount for Mr Cameron below £1,000 on at least one of the flights."


The BBC never happier than when attacking the Conservatives and supporting Labour.