Guido was perusing the notes from last week’s meeting of Labour’s Shadow Justice team when he noticed something odd. Within them is a list of various amendments and clauses to the Justice Bill and how the Labour MPs will vote on them. All boring so far, but what’s this next to one of the clauses?

And another:

Once would look bad enough, but how Labour will vote on two parts of the Bill will be determined after “checking with GMB who have very strong views on other aspects of LSC transfer”. This refers to a particularly dull aspect of pension protection and the Legal Services Commission, but that’s beside the point – one of Labour’s biggest donors is being directly consulted on legislation which affects their vested interests.

The GMB union have Labour over a barrel: eighty of their MPs are members and the union has given Labour £1,545,987.02 since Ed took over. That’s nearly 20% of all donations received and certainly blows the sums involved in the Cash for Questions and Cash for Influence scandals out of the water. Clearly the GMB expect something in return, and that is telling Labour MPs directly how to vote in Parliament. A cash for votes swap.

And who is in charge of this merry policy auction?

Step forward Sadiq Khan, the Shadow Justice Minister and proud GMB member. He’s also the recipient of £11,000 directly from the GMB for his campaigns in Tooting. Want to change legislation directly? Better reach for your wallet with this lot…