Joan’s Estate-Gate

Chapman Turns Down Downing Street | Mandrake
Police Investigating Scrapbook Comments | The Argus
City Bans Data Collecting Bins | Big Brother Watch
Neil Hamilton Gets Senior UKIP Job | Speccie
“Senior Minister of State” Misleads Lords | Trending Central
Of Course Polly Loves the BBC | The Commentator
Ed is a B**tard | Labour MP
All Labour Do is Blame Others | Telegraph
Chris Bryant’s Battle of Hastings Diary | ConservativeHome
Why Do Tories Put Up With It? | Stephan Tall
ICM: Tory Trust in Economy Soars | Guardian

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2013

Joan’s Estate-Gate

The Mail have tracked down the will of Joan Edwards, Q2′s second largest donor and things have got a little murky for the Tories and the LibDems. Where it was briefed yesterday that the 90 year old deceased nurse had left the money to the party of government, the will actually states she wanted to leave her entire estate to:‘whichever Government is in office at the date of my death for the Government in their absolute discretion to use as they may think fit’.That is not the same as giving to parties even if a friend of the late Ms Edwards says she made the money trough shares and was a Tory…
It is very hard to give money not owed to the government though. A row between the Treasury lawyers and Dominic Grieve the Tory Attorney General has broken out with the learned beancounters claiming Grieve said it should be party political donations. Grieve says the opposite and the parties are playing dumb. Guido is sceptical that they let half a million wander into their accounts without picking up a phone though. If they did not then that is a very worrying state of affairs. So if they did ask questions it stinks and if they did not it stinks. So which is it?

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013

Crisis? What Media Crisis

While there is no doubt the papers are in trouble, this chart from Business Insider smashes the narrative that all the media suffering. As print declines, the number of journalists increases:

We are all bloggers now.

And Another Labour Figure Joins the Bandwagon

He may be a former MP, but Chris Mullin’s diaries mean he is still a Labour voice that they should really listen to. He’s joined the rebellion today:
Apparently Ed needs to bring back “some of the grown ups”. Anyone else want to wade in?

“Senior Minister of State” at FCO Smears British Ally

Many wonder just what Britain’s first, and likely last, “Senior Minister of State” at the Foreign Office does. Well smearing one of Britain’s closest allies in the House of Lords is probably not in the job description. Answering a written question, Baroness Warsi replied:

“We have made no assessment of the number of non-violent protestors killed or injured in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 2002. According to the website of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 3,643 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israelis since 1 January 2012 in incidents directly related to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in the West Bank and Gaza strip.”

Only one problem. That number is not true. The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs states quite clearly that the actual figure of Palestinians killed by Israelis since 2012 was 262. Out by thousands. Why she felt the need to continue the answer beyond the first sentence is baffling. A correction is called for…

Via Trending Central.

Now Bad Al Weighs in to Criticise Labour’s Messaging

While there have been calls for Labour to bring back Mandy, don’t forget that other controversial blast from the past Alastair Campbell. Well he is not going to let you anyway. Campbell is the latest Labour figure to offer their, ever so welcome, two-cents on where Miliband and his message are going wrong:

“…the very good record of the last Labour government has been blunted if not lost as a political weapon. Steve Richards is absolutely right to be arguing in the FT today that Labour must be more robust in defending the record… Labour have played into Tory hands on this, and there needs to be an admission of that, so that even at this late stage, a proper debate and a proper reckoning of the record can be had.”

Thanks for your input, Alastair. 

Paxman’s Beard Releases Statement

Jeremy Paxman has just released this statement through Newsnight:

“I have grown a beard for the last few summers, and suddenly wondered whether I really needed to shave it off to present Newsnight. Unless you’re lucky enough to be Uncle Albert on Only Fools and Horses, Demis Roussos or Abu Hamza, the BBC is generally as pognophobic as the late-lamented Albanian dictator, Enver Hoxha. I may keep it or I may shave it off, but I think I’ll make my own decision.”

Well keeping people guessing is one way to get those suffering viewing figures up…

Q2 Party Funding Figures – Everything You Need To Know

The party funding figures are out for Quarter 2 of the year. The Tories are out front with £4,116,006 while Labour’s £3,136,447 is almost entirely from the unions. The LibDems have struggled to even raise a million with £801,448, while UKIP’s £160,289 was double what they raised in Q1.
The biggest donors were:

Unite the Union £772,195 to Labour
Ms Joan L B Edwards £420,576 to Tories
Ms Joan L B Edwards £99,423 to LibDems
GMB £485,830 to Labour
UNISON £458,080 to Labour
Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers £411,147 to Labour
Mr Michael S Farmer £280,770 to Tories
Mr James R Lupton £263,600 To Tories
National Conservative Draws Society £165,000 to Tories
CWU £143,121 to Labour
Offshore Group Newcastle Limited £117,300 to Tories

Clearly whoever Joan L B Edwards is, she really really likes the coalition. Labour got another £2,241,419 in short money, yet despite this have gone cap in hand to the bank again:
Let’s hope the Co-op bank will be able to keep up their support. Labour still have more than £12 million in outstanding loans, while the Tories owe £2m. Ker-ching.
UPDATE: According to City AM Ms Joan Edwards left half a million “to whoever was the party in government of the day”. This was then divided down the MP/Ministerial split of the coalition.