Wednesday 28 November 2007

Donor-gate, Which Labour minister will be sacked before PMQs?

There are rumours that a minister will resign (be sacked) this morning. Possibly Harriet Harman, but who knows? this story is so shady and twisted that anyone could be involved. David Abrahams told Jeremy Paxman last night that he could not remember giving money to Harriet, or whether she approached him, or if he made the offer out of the blue. He also would not admit to backing both Harriet and Hilary Benn in the the deputy leadership campaign.

Here is where it gets interesting: David Abrahams donated £5,000 to Hilary Benn during the deputy leadership campaign (all above board it seems). However these are the questions that need to be answered: did Mr Abrahams give money to Harriet via Janet Kidd, before or after the campaign? If it was after the campaign (and that seems to be the case), did any of that money find its way into Harriet's private account to pay off the £10,000 loan she took out to finance her campaign?

It has also emerged that Labour's chief fundraiser Jon Mendelsohn had been told about the arrangement by Peter Watt last month. This obviously puts a lie to the claim that only Peter Watt was aware of the situation. George Osborne said: "If Jon Mendelsohn knew and was party to something that was unacceptable and unlawful he should follow Peter Watt and leave his post. "After all, he is Gordon Brown's personal fundraiser and in charge of raising money for Labour's general election campaign."

We must have answers, hopefully they will come out during today's prime minister's questions. Though as usual, I will not be holding my breath.

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