If one can judge an expenses piggy by the company she keeps, it’s telling that Joan Ryan’s friends in high places include Tom Watson and Margaret Hodge. Ryan has even tapped up Hodge to write to residents in Enfield North, Hodge helpfully describes her as “a great campaigner with strong values” and ” a first-rate MP”. Obviously forgetting that she was kicked out last time after claiming £4,500 for work on her second home and having to pay back over £5,000 in mortgage interest. Now former Enfield Labour leader Jeff Rodin has pleaded with Hodge to withdraw her endorsement in a letter seen by Guido:

“All the good work that has been done by the Labour Borough Campaign Team in raising the profile and standing of Labour in the whole of Enfield would be undermined by the selection of Joan Ryan… Of the 5 candidates, it is my view that she is the one whose selection would most please the current Conservative MP and his campaign Team, and also would be most likely to damage the prospects for Labour in the Borough both for the 2014 Local Election as well as the next General Election… I have no doubt that there is more that the Conservatives plan to reveal if she is selected.”

As if that were not enough, local Labour councillors Derek Levy, Don McGowan and Ozzie Uzoanya are complaining to the party’s head office accusing Ryan of sending “misleading” leaflets to constituents. “Such behaviour is unacceptable as it is misleading to members. We will be notifying Labour Party Head Office”, they say.

Selection is on Sunday. The knives are out…

See also: Labour Accuse Candidate of ‘Tower Hamlets-Style’ Stitch Up, Tom Watson Fingered Over Plotting Dinner, Voters Warn Labour Expenses Piggy Not to Run, Labour Expenses Piggy Tries to Run Again.

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When the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change isn’t telling newspapers what they can and cannot write relating to his brief, he just goes for out and out abuse of his opponents. Here is not so liberal or democratic Ed Davey today:

“Of course there will always be those with a vested interest in the status quo who seek to create doubt where there is certainty. And you will always get crackpots and conspiracy theorists who will deny they have a nose on their face if it suits them.”

Davey himself would never have a vested interest, other than last year declaring that his brother works for City law firm Herbert Smith, lawyers to eco-spivs, of course. Some might say going after conflicted climate change sceptics in the week after Tim Yeo was jettisoned and replaced on the Energy and Climate Change select committee by a man with shares in Shell is a bit brave. His entire brief is rotten to the core with MPs with vested interests…

Nigel Evans MP – Deputy Speaker – has been further arrested on suspicion of 3 further indecent assaults—
lucy manning (@lucymanning) June 19, 2013

“A 55 year old man from Pendleton in Lancashire has today answered his bail following his arrest in May on suspicion of rape and sexual assault. He has subsequently been further arrested on suspicion of three further offences of indecent assault. He will be interviewed about these allegations at a police station in Lancashire during the course of the day.

These offences are alleged to have been committed in Blackpool in Lancashire and London between 2003 and 2011. The rape and indecent assault offences are alleged to have been committed in Pendleton between July 2009 and March 2013.”

They are piling up…

UKIP’s efforts to do battle online are clearly paying off. According to analysis done by UK General Election 2015, the party is gaining Twitter followers and Facebook likes at a considerably greater rate than its opponents, with the Tories in particular falling way short. By way of comparison, over the same period @GuidoFawkes gained some 7,000 followers and now has 109,745 followers – more than any UK political party. Social media campaigning will have a big part to play over the next two years, so these stats make interesting reading…

UPDATE: Just noticed that LetBritainDecide.org seems to redirect UKIP.org. Not to be confused with CCHQ’s LetBritainDecide.com, or rather it is…

A few weeks back Guido reported in his Sun column that James Wharton was playing hardball with the Tories over the EU referendum bill, well his tactics have paid off. Wharton’s was unhappy with the “sloppy” draft bill thrust on him by his party, now he has been successful in changing the wording of the question. He has also inserted a clause requiring the government to announce the date of the referendum by the end of 2016.

Dave has been told he can’t be an official co-sponsor of the Bill because it would make it a government bill, so he is instead putting his name down via CCHQ’s new public co-sponsor app:

Given this all depends on what happens in 2015 Number 10 arguably don’t have much to lose by being conciliatory…

Be careful what you say – you don't want to be on Contempt of Court – Andy Coulson %$#@!+&%$#@@!$%&#@@+@$%%@ m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…—
Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) June 18, 2013

Careful now…

Guido has done his best to provide free advertising for the Guardian’s ill-fated coffee shop, yet it all seems to have been in vain. This is the scene in Shoreditch sent in by a reader this afternoon:

At the time of going to pixel just 41 cups have been sold today, well short of the 270-a-day they need to flog to break even. Perhaps they are being put out of business by all those fake GCHQ coffee shops they’ve been telling us about…

Shirkers of the world unite. This weekend a vanguard of beret-wearing commie-sympathisers will be meeting in London to discuss, wait for it, “Ideas for Freedom: Marxist ideas to turn the tide”. Kicking off with a “radical East London walking tour”, the revolutionaries will of course be discussing how Karl Marx can help them fight cuts. Class war fighting comrades already signed up include a host of trade unionists from Unison, the RMT and PCS. They will be joined by Maria Exall, TUC activist and civil partner of Shadow Cabinet member Angela Eagle, so it’s good to know the Marxists have an in to Team Red Ed. Buy your ticket for a capitalism-busting £33…

Despite their self-confessed devoted readership of the blog, it turns out Patrick Mercer’s “office” aren’t fans. Guido’s brief chat with a familiarly bad-tempered voice answering Mercer’s phone this lunchtime didn’t go too well. Guido politely asked if Patrick would be repaying the money he has declared from Alistair Andrews Communications, to which came the curt reply:

“You’re certainly not going to get an answer from me. I think it’s best if we end this conversation now. Goodbye.”

Goodbye indeed…