Regarding full-time union officials, or Pilgrims as they have come to be known, Guido wrote last week:

“There are 2,493 Pilgrims across the public sector, union officials, paid not to provide the service they represent, but instead do political activities that should be funded by the unions. Without having to pay their staff, the unions can spend the money raised through their subs on other things, like keeping the Labour Party solvent.”

Well there was certainly one happy reader. This is what Aidan Burley had to ask at PMQs:

Mr Aidan Burley (Cannock Chase) (Con): There are currently 2,500 trade union representatives across the public sector paid not to provide the service that they represent but to carry out campaigning activities that should be funded by the unions—and because the unions do not pay their salaries, they can spend their subs on other things, such as subsidising that lot over there. Does the Prime Minister not think it time that that was reformed?

The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend raises an important point. [Hon. Members: “No he doesn’t!”] It is interesting that whenever someone raises a point about union funding they get shouted down by the Labour party, because Labour Members do not want any examination of what trade unions do, or how much money they give to the Labour party. [Interruption.] I think that they protest a little too much

This week, Guido will be exposing another Pilgrim, this time a teacher. In the meantime Guido strongly encourages Aidan and his collegues to sign EDM1799 demanding an end to this obscene loophole.

Video via Dom Robinson

In 2005 Geoff Hoon was Defence Secretary. In March of that year defence giants Westland got a £1.7billion contract from the MOD. Nobody else was invited to bid. Which was a bit odd.

In 2010 Geoff Hoon was exposed seeking a “little hoonwork” in the form of lobbying work on the side by an undercover sting. He was sacked from his job at Nato and lost the Labour whip. Disgraced, you might call it.

Yesterday it was announced Geoff Hoon has been given a top job at Westland. What a coincidence…

Essex Police have just announced that they will be interviewing the “key individuals” over allegations that Huhne tried to evade punishment for speeding. That would be him and his soon to be ex-wife then.

Michael Crick speculates that Clegg could have been on the same plane that night, and Guido has found the speed camera. Senior LibDems knew about the allegations years ago. How deep was the cover-up? Perhaps the police might like to call Clegg as a witness if he was on the plane…

Huhne was looking chipper and smiling when he snuck in late to PMQs. And no wonder, Ken Clarke’s mealy-mouthed mess today has given Huhne huge amounts of cover when he would have been the biggest political story for another day.

But he’s back up the agenda now…

UPDATE: The full statement from Detective Superintendent Tim Wills, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate:

“There are many lines of inquiry to be taken and the team are still working to establish if an offence has been committed. Obviously, this will entail speaking to key individuals identified by the enquiry team. It would not be appropriate to release any more information prior to progressing these lines of enquiry.”

UPDATE II:

I'm told Essex Police contacted Nigel Farage over Chris Huhne speeding allegations. Farage told them he couldn't be sure he was on flight—
  (@sophyridge) May 18, 2011

That’s not to say the old bill can’t check the flight records.

UPDATE III:

On Huhne – Essex police source tells me they think there may still be evidence on record relating to alleged speeding offence in 2003—
Laura Kuenssberg (@BBCLauraK) May 18, 2011

‘Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello…

Guido understands the Met are looking into the following paragraph from the conclusion of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards report:

 ”Mr Laws was in breach of the rules of the House in claiming for repairs and maintenance work undertaken on the second London home in 2007-08, since these additional expenses were not necessarily incurred by him given that his rental claims were already significantly above that which could be justified by his share of living in the property in a sound condition, with the result that his claims for building work benefited someone close to him, namely his partner who owned the property and who lived in it with him, contrary to section 3.3.2 of the July 2006 Green Book.”

The question is whether the “expenses were not necessarily incurred” amounts to dishonesty, in which case they will launch a criminal investigation into possible offences of fraud and false accounting. It does not matter if he did not gain personally, it is only necessary to show another person gained, in this case his partner. Laws was only the tenant, yet he made claims for building work that were the responsibility of the landlord, his partner. Guido seems to remember that a deal was done so that the Met wouldn’t investigate if the Standards and Privileges Committee dished out a punishment. Could have just gone out the window?

Ever keen to help out in the Huhne investigation, Guido would just like to point out that there is only one speed camera on the Southbound M11. It’s at Loughton where the three lanes converge into two. You would drive past it on the way back from Stansted airport…

Ken Clarke had a media car crash on 5Live. It got worse on Sky:

“Newspapers are using rape to add some sexual excitement” to the story.

He went on to discuss:

“The classic rape, where someone jumps out from behind a bush….. serious, proper rape.”

Unemployment has fallen by 36,000 to 2.46 million in the three months to March. Youth unemployment also fell 30,000 to 934,000. That is the second quarter in a row the numbers have fallen.

The dastardly Ed Balls and his Muttley-like SpAd Alex Belardinelli are unusually quiet this morning…

Day 10: Another ravaging for Huhne in the papers. Nigel Farage reckons that Chris Huhne was in Essex the night of the speeding offence, as he was usually on the same flight from Strasbourg to Stansted airport and he travelled on March 12, 2003. Meanwhile Vicky Pryce was dining forty miles away in London.

The Mail  reports that senior LibDems colluded in a cover up, and turned a blind eye to Huhne pulling the ticket stunt on more than one occasion. They also claim Vicky Pryce sought the advice of and friend and judge in 2003. The Telegraph picked up in Guido’s non-denial denial speculation from yesterday. A senior LibDem source twisted the knife last night:

“There is blood in the water and the sharks are circling. So far Huhne has failed to deny the allegations in full, he has only said that the allegations are incorrect. The story just does not stack up,”

Huhne was abandoned in the House yesterday. Colleagues notably failed to rally around him for his big climate announcement. He sat and faced the mockery and  and jokes from Labour alone. #HuhneTunes at the weekend was the public laughing, and now Huhne’s fellow MPs are mocking him. Guido has said it before and will say it again – can a cabinet minister survive when he has become a national joke and synonymous with lying? Methinks not…