Peter Hain has just resigned from the cabinet - about bloody time

Peter Hain has just resigned from the cabinet - about bloody time. Apparently he has stepped down to give himself chance to clear his name over his dodgy looking donations. I think the fact that he has resigned pretty well points to the fact that he won't be able to prove his innocence. How long has this been going on? Gordon Brown should have sacked him the moment this came to light, instead he either disappeared or dithered.

Will this be the first of many? Now that the ball is rolling, how many will it take out before it comes to a stop?

I'm sure that there are those (Harman, Alexander) who should also be going, but need a shove. Come on Gordon, make a decision.

Well done Guido Fawkes

Labour MPs are voicing their dismay over poor ministerial behaviour (Smith and Hain).

It seems that each day more and more Labour MPs are making statements to the media that are not at all supportive of their ministers. Over the last couple of days their comments have been aimed at Jacqui Smith and Peter Hain. Keith Vaz, Labour chair of the home affairs committee, Lindsay Hoyle and Andrew Mackinlay have all made it very clear that the police pay award could have been handled better. Keith Vaz believes that the police pay award is of such importance that it should be voted on in parliament. Lindsay Hoyle has called the two stage pay deal "unacceptable and unpalatable", and Andrew Mackinlay believes the deal would not only cause "disproportionate offence to public servants" and "collateral damage" to the Labour government, but it was also "unfair". However Jacqui is not listening:

"I had a responsibility to make a decision that was right for the police, for the affordability of policing and for the taxpayer as a whole."

What Jacqui fails to mention is that her actions are in breach of the police pay award arbitration.

As for Peter Hain - he is getting it in the neck from all angles. Even Gordon Brown has left him swinging in the breeze, saying that Peter's fate is out of his hands. Labour MPs Peter Kilfoyle, John Spellar and Ian Gibson have made it clear that Hain should step down for the good of the party. To add to Hain's woes, it looks like the police could be called in to investigate his undeclared donations.

Rumour has it that Gordon Brown plans to have a cabinet reshuffle in February. If I were Gordon, I would ensure that Harriet Harman, Peter Hain and Jacqui Smith would still be standing when the music stopped and all the cabinet chairs were taken.

Gordon Brown - is he, or is he not, the Prime Minister?

I understand that Gordon Brown has told The Sun that Peter Hain's future as a member of the cabinet is out of his hands. What a peculiar statement. Surely Hain has been carpeted, and just as surely both he and Gordon Brown know whether he is going to be found guilty by the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. They both know the rules. And in that case if Gordon Brown is surely the Prime Minister he should have made one of the two following statements:

. Peter Hain has acted with the utmost integrity and I'm sure he will be found to have acted within the rules when the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards conclude their investigation. Therefore, I give Peter Hain my full and unconditional support.

. Peter Hain and I have discussed the circumstances surrounding the investigation into donations made to his deputy leadership campaign. We both agree that mistakes have been made. Mistakes that are not acceptable from a senior cabinet minister. Peter has asked me to pass on his apologies and has tendered his resignation from the cabinet as of this morning, which, with great regret I have accepted.

David Cameron is correct to call Brown's actions dithering. I can only guess that the reason one or the other of the above statements have not been made is that Gordon is hoping the investigation will drag out until he can reshuffle the cabinet, or he doesn't have the guts to either back or sack Hain.

Labour's spin machine will go into fast cycle over George Osborne's donations.

Let's make something very clear from the start: All the money donated to the Conservative Party, which was then passed on to George Osborne was fully declared to the Electoral Commission. George did not report the donations to the Register of Members' Interests because commons registrar Alda Barry told him his declarations "were in order". Unlike Peter Hain, George's donations were not hidden or passed to him through a dubious think tank unknown in Westminster. George said last night:

'I was told that my declarations were in order. 'Ms Barry has now told us that her initial advice may have been unclear. 'These donations are to the Conservative Party, they are openly declared and we have followed the rules as they were explained to us. 'All the donations over £5,000 have been declared to the Electoral Commission and are available for all to see on their website, as the law requires.'

No doubt Labour will try and spin this into being something akin to their dodgy donations situation, but unlike the donations received by Labour Ministers, this money was not hidden from public view or received through a questionable third party. George Osborne acted under the guidance of the senior Commons official in charge of the register for the secrecy. The sad truth is that Labour Ministers will put a spin on this, and some of the more gullible members of the public will fall for their lies. The fact that you have to scroll two thirds down the report on the BBC News Website to discover that George believed he was following sound advice from Alda Barry will not help matters.

George tried to declare the donations, but was told that he didn't need to. And he has the emails to prove it.

Will Peter Hain go against labour policy and resign?

Peter Hain has already delayed his 10:30 press conference twice and we are still waiting for his 14:30 statement. Will Peter go against Labour Party policy and do the honourable thing by resigning? The MSM don't seem to think he will, and to be honest I will be very shocked if Hain does not tough it out. Gordon Brown has given his support to Hain, however there are rumours circulating the blogosphere that Gordon's own campaign funding may not be whiter than white.

I'll keep you updated as things develop.

UPDATE: Hain will NOT be resigning. He's issued written statement to the media claiming that he has done nothing wrong, but apologises for any embarrassment caused by delays in reporting donations to the electoral commission.

Breaking wind with dignity V breaking the law without shame.

I found a story today that sums up the way I was left feeling after watching yesterday's debate on party political funding:

77-year-old Maurice Fox received a letter from Kirkham Street Sports and Social Club in Paignton, complaining about him breaking wind loudly in the public bar. Maurice may be a man of with a bad habit, but he is a man with a sense of decency. When Maurice received the letter did he complain? no. This is what Maurice said: "I am happy to oblige them, there is no problem. I do get a bit windy - I am an old fart now. "I think someone has complained about the noise. I am a loud farter, but there is no smell. "I do not think it [the letter] is unreasonable, you get ladies in there." Maurice now goes outside to fart.

Compare this to the Labour party's behaviour at the commons debate for political party funding yesterday: If certain members of the cabinet had received a letter complaining about their party breaking wind in the bar, this would have been Labour's reply: "We admit that one of our group has been farting loudly in the bar. "We are angry that this has happened. "We are going to instigate an immediate review into this matter, and we are determined to have transparency at all times when it comes any member breaking wind. "Our friends will carry out the review, and on completion they will provide a detailed report of their findings to the alleged farter. "We will of course report this matter to the bodily function commission."

"However, we would like to make it very clear that patrons on the other side of the bar, have in the past, farted louder and longer than any member of our drinking group. "To this end, we would like to put forward a motion to ensure that any future farting will be done in a fair manner, and on a level playing field. "Although we admit that one of our group has farted, that member will not be going outside to fart until the Landlord throws them out."

Maurice Fox is a man with a sense of decency - The Labour party do not know the meaning of the word.

Commons debate - Scandals over the funding of the governing political party.

David Cameron has changed the subject of today's commons debate from the civil service, to one on party funding. The motion for the debate states: "This House notes with concern the corrosion of public trust in democracy following the recent succession of scandals over the funding of the governing political party." Cameron walked out on the last round of party funding talks when Labour refused to include the Unions in a proposal to cap donations to £50,000. Now for some reason (probably something to do with the police wanting to talk to several senior Labour party members) Gordon Brown wants to come back to the negotiation table, apparently willing to consider including the unions on any donation cap.

That Cameron has forced today's debate is not surprising following the weekend's revelations. Peter Hain has suddenly remembered even more deputy party leadership election money that he failed to declare, and Newcastle property lawyer George Crawford has called in the police to investigate the theft of his identity. In 2004 someone made a donation of £36,000 to the Labour Party in Mr Crawford's name, a donation which he has no knowledge of.

Gordon Brown is going to do some very fancy footwork during the funding debate. On one hand he stands to further alienate the general public if he does not agree to union donation capping, and on the other hand he faces a possible civil war within the party if he does. There have also been accusations that the only reason Wendy Alexander has not resigned is because she is being used as a human shield. Many believe that if Wendy was to resign, Harriet Harman would have to follow.

The Cabinet is meeting as I type this, and I've got the feeling that it will not be a pleasant chat over a cup of tea. Will someone be offered to the political altar in an attempt to assuage the demand for blood? Whatever happens it's going to be one of the most interesting days in domestic politics for quite some time. Will this be one of those days that people will ask of in the future: "what were you doing when....."

Peter Hain has just remembered more donations.

Cabinet minister Peter Hain has said more donations to his Labour deputy leadership campaign "were not registered as they should have been". That's on top of the £5,000 donation that he forgot last week. Isn't old age terrible?

Peter seems to have remembered these donations since Guido broke this story this afternoon.

Nigel Hastilow's Enoch Powell and Immigration comments.

Now, considering that at some time in the future, I would like to become involved in politics, I'm going to be very careful about what I write on this subject.

I've heard some very strong language used to describe this situation from the media. What I haven't heard on the news is what exactly Nigel Hastilow had to say in the newspaper column. Peter Hain told Andrew Marr this morning that Hastilow's comments showed the racist underbelly of the Conservative party.

So what did Nigel actually say?

In a column for the Express and Star newspaper Nigel said: "When you ask most people in the Black Country what the single biggest problem facing the country is, most say immigration."

That to me sounds very much like a statement of fact, and Nigel is relaying the views of the public in his canvassing area of Halesowen and Rowley Regis.

Nigel went on to say that "Many insist: 'Enoch Powell was right'. Enoch, once MP for Wolverhampton South-West, was sacked from the Conservative front bench and marginalised politically for his 1968 'rivers of blood' speech, warning that uncontrolled immigration would change our country irrevocably. He was right. It has changed dramatically."

Again I feel that Hastilow is relaying the opinion of the people he has met in the area, and cannot be criticised for saying that uncontrolled immigration has changed our country. If it hasn't changed why are Labour's think tank (the IPPR) coming out with such rubbish as "downgrading Christmas" to improve race relations? And why have we got to the situation where our own citizens are trying to kill us in terrorist attacks?

Hastilow also wrote: "They have more or less given up complaining about the way we roll out the red carpet for foreigners while leaving the locals to fend for themselves."

This is just more of the same relaying of the local mood.

What do I think? I think that it was ill judged to bring up Enoch Powell. No matter how truthful Hastilow's comment's are, some people are always going to link Powell to racism. I don't think Nigel should be asked to step down as a candidate, but he should be shown the error of his ways.

No doubt a lecture from Caroline Spelman and the embarrassment of this whole affair will be lesson enough for Nigel.

Peter Hain calling for Nigel's head is frankly pathetic when his own glorious leader Gordon Brown is coming out with "British jobs for British workers."

Update: Nigel Hastilow stepped down after meeting with Caroline Spelman. He said: "I am very sorry that any remarks of mine have undermined the progress David Cameron has made on the issue of immigration, as on so many other issues."

I'm sorry to see this happen, another man has had to step down after being accused of racism without making a racist comment. Several times on the TV today I have watched news readers repeating what Nigel wrote, then turn to guest Labour politicians and ask: "but isn't that true?"

Isn't it a shame when telling the truth can seriously damage your career?

Sir Ian Blair. please take note.

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