It's been a bad week for prochain ancien British prime minister Mr. The Soup Dragon. On Monday evening, Peter Watt resigned as Labour's general secretary. He had accepted donations from three people - one of whom is a Conservative supporter - who turned out to be fronts for David Abrahams.
Mr. Abrahams is a zillionaire property developer from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a member of the North East Regional Executive who would have gained if Mr. Prescott had won his devolution referendum in 2004. He had used a number of names, is unclear to his date of birth, and was dropped as a Labour parliamentary candidate after inventing a wife and children.
It has been suggested that he was channelling money to Labour in order to buy planning advantages. His company, Durham Green Developments, had a planning application for a business park near to the A1 blocked by the Department of Transport. After £400,000 was donated to Labour by Mr. Abrahams and three other company directors, the Department of Transport dropped its objection. (Source: Guido Fawkes)
Mr. Watt, the party secretary, should have known better. Indeed, he really should have known better; he was told by the electoral commission in July that,
If the original source of the donation is someone other than the individual or organisation that transfers the donation to the party, the individual or organisation making the transfer is acting as an agent for the original donor. Where a person acts as an agent in making a donation, they must ensure that the party is given all the relevant information... Transferring a donation to an agent rather than directly to a party must not be used as an attempt to evade the controls on permissibility and transparency.
Prior to his appointment as secretary, Mr. Watt was Labour's Head of Legal and Compliance bit. If Mr. Watt didn't know the law when he took the job, then this does raise significant questions about Labour's commitment to probity and honesty. Upon appointment, it was his responsibility to get to know the law right away. Pronto. Zap to it. Channelling donations in this way appears to be a breach of the money laundering regulations, a possible tax breach, as well as the electoral law.
It later emerged that Mr. Abrahams's shady arrangement had begun in 2003, and had continued under the previous two general secretaries. Furthermore, Mr. Abrahams had been a regular at the Fabian Society in the mid-90s, was in the front row for ancien prime minister Mister Blair's leaving speech in May, and the matter was known to Jon Mendelson, appointed Labour's chief fundraiser when Mr. The Soup Dragon assumed office. This fact was revealed live on national television, completely wrong-footing Geoff How, who we're assured is Labour's Chief Whip, at least this week.
Mr. Abrahams tried to ingratiate himself to the party's leadership and deputy leadership candidates. His frontsmen donated £5000 to Hilary Benn's campaign; As if by magic, Mr. Benn's shopkeeper declined the cash, insisting that the cheque be signed by a donor who had actually given money to the party before now, such as Mr. Abrahams. Why did Margaret Jay, Jim Calorgas's daughter, not tell the party's secretary or compliance team about their suspicions?
Mr. The Soup Dragon's campaign also received a cheque for £5000; he didn't know Mr. Abrahams personally, and didn't really need to stretch himself in his campaign against absolutely no-one, so returned the money outright.
Harriet "Froglet" Harman also got a five-grand cheque in the post. Ta v. much [flutters eyebrows] was the note that went back. The donation was made on 4 July, a week and a half after Froglet had been elected short of a quota. At his monthly press conference on Tuesday, The Soup Dragon gave Froglet the weakest vote of confidence we've heard since the England manager was last in trouble. The Soup Dragon also said that he didn't recall any conversations with Mr. Abrahams; this is the same Dragon who can recall precisely how many lengths of blue string soup he served up to any particular Clanger on 17 January 1998. Anyway, Froglet will return the money, but it's clear that she'll bank cheques first and ask questions later. So will the Labour party.
It was, lest we forget, the Labour party that drew up these rules on party funding. Under the Conservatives, there was no requirement to declare who paid how much and to whom, and we all recall how that ended up. What did the party's Treasurer know, and does the fact that he is Mr. Froglet's Husband have any bearing? Was the party so mesmerised by the Cash for Honours scandal that it took its eye off the ball for anyone who didn't want a gong? Why did no-one call the constituency party to ask after their huge donors? Sums of £100,000 in one month aren't exactly going to come out of the blue.
Mr. The Soup Dragon has ordered yet more enquiries, this one to be headed by a former government minister. A former Labour government minister. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leadership contender Dr. Chris Huhne has invited Yates of the Yard to enquire within.
