You might have thought that any self-respecting ambitious shadow cabinet minister and future party leadership contender would want to keep a safe distance from the sleazy world of expenses cheats. Not Yvette Cooper.

The shadow home secretary trousered a donation of nearly £5,000 from shamed ex-Labour MP and so-called ‘Expenses Queen’ Barbara Follett this month. Follett lost her job at the last election after she was exposed as one of the worst expenses troughers of all, amongst other things claiming £500 to clean a Chinese rug. Her novelist husband Ken bankrolled Ed Balls’ leadership campaign, and overall the Folletts have donated almost £60,000 to the Balls-Coopers this Parliament. Last time round public pressure decided that Barbara Follett had no role to play in public life. Ed and Yvette clearly disagree…