Not Ali versus Foreman but International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell versus Congo’s cash strapped politicians.  Guido noted that last week Congo politicians rejected UK aid, claiming it to be a kind of ‘guilt payment’ to secure access for British controlled offshore mining interests. The UK is giving the Democratic Republic of Congo £790 million in aid over 4 years. DfID is determined to increase aid payments to the Congo despite Congolese opposition politicians rejecting UK aid as a sham. Andrew Mitchell is making UK taxpayers the Congo’s biggest bilateral donor and it was not even a former British colony.

The IMF and World Bank, with the backing of British taxes, are also channeling billions to the Congo Government.  Surely in this austere climate it is time to give the Congolese what they want themselves – aid stopped until the Congo government honours the loan covenants it made to the IMF. Namely “Publish What You Pay“ conditions for mining interests to be honoured, mining assets sales to be made via open tender and an independent anti-corruption body to be established to oversee it all. Yesterday Lord Chidgey raised questions about the activities of British companies via offshore operations in the Congo. Something very fishy is going on here with the tacit connivance of DfID by default. The overseas aid budget should not be used to secure access for British companies to corruptly under-priced minerals…

While journalistic relations with the police are in the headlines, the usual hand-wringers should pause before passing judgement. Whilst slipping coppers cash is morally dubious, is it worse than using what the recent Filkin report described as “long-standing tactics”? The Metropolitan Police report into “The Ethical Issues Arising From The Relationship Between Police And Media“ was clear, “Flirting is often interlinked with alcohol. Designed to get you to drop your defences and say far more than you intended. Be careful.” Such tactics are not unknown to hackettes from papers that consider themselves to be much more upmarket, almost on a different moral plane to the Sun…

A hypothetical dilemma for you to consider, which is less ethical: performing what the tabloid papers call a “sex-act” on a police officer for information, or paying for it? Normally less of a trail left with the former, if the evidence is swallowed…

In about half an hour Chris Huhne will learn his fate. If he’s not charged it will leak within minutes. Westminster waits with baited breath. Runes are being read left, right and centre but nobody has the foggiest. Roll on Ten O’Clock…

The pre-announcement of an announcement does not bode too well…

Yesterday Guido pondered why there was no retribution for Peers who are convicted criminals and that it’s  just unpopular Knights that get shredded. Well it seems to have got the ball rolling…

Tory MP Matthew Hancock tells the FT: “I don’t see why the rules for peers should be entirely different to the rules for MPs”. As Jim Pickard points out, legislation has already passed that, with an amendment or two, could make this happen. The 1917 Deprivation of Titles Act was used to strip Peers who supported Germany in WWI…

If it is so easy to strip honours in retribution, then how come convicted criminals and sleazy cash-takers still sit on the red benches? Fred Goodwin has never been convicted of a crime but has the full book thrown at him, yet ex-convicts can return to the trough when they are out of prison.  Once again our lawmakers put themselves above the law…

No this isn’t about his fraudulent expense claims, this is about the whoppers MacShane tells on Twitter:

Without even checking the records, Guido recalls that the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 were officially opened by President Ronald Reagan and saw him re-elected in November 1984. More recently the Canadian Conservative government of Steven Harper won a full majority of votes in 2011, after the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, following successive minority and coalition governments in the previous years.

Last week MacShane made the bizarre claim that €uro had got stronger against the “Osborne pound” which was “still weakest currency in world as oil prices rise”. The pound is in fact up 5% against the crisis-ridden €uro over the last three months.

UPDATE: Courtesy of William Pitt in the comments below:

1984 – Los Angeles (Reagan reelected in 1984)
1988 – Seoul (Roh Tae-woo returned in 1992)
1992 – Barcelona (Marquez returned as PM 1993)
1996 – Atlanta (Clinton reelected 1996)
2000 – Sydney (Howard reelected 2001)
2004 – Athens (Karamanlis reelected 2007)
2008 – China (no brainer)

Take two. This time with the final piece of evidence. Don’t worry about doing your red boxes this weekend Chris…

Jack Dromey, aka Mrs Harman, aka Unites’ man on the inside, will be forced to issue an apology to the House for failing to declare he was still in the pay of the union when he became an MP. While many Labour MPs benefit from union cash, such a formal arrangement was enough for John Lyon to gently toss an abridged version of the book at Dromey’s feet. Imagine if it had been any other form of lobbyist giving secret payments of £57,000 to an MP…

UPDATE: John Lyons said the matter was serious but has given leniency due to Dromey being “a new an inexperienced MP”. He’s been political operator for decades. He knew what he was doing…

Vince Cable once attacked the “pin-striped Scargills” of banking, adding for good measure that the LibDems didn’t rely on friends in the City for funding. No, not any more.

The biggest donor in the history of the Liberal Democrat Party was one pin-striped Michael Brown, who gave them £2.4 million for a front-row seat sipping champagne next to Charlie Kennedy.  He turned out to be a pin-striped thief and was charged with money laundering, fraud and theft before he went on the run.  He has been arrested in the Dominican Republic…