Seems to Guido that the wrong questions are being asked, Prescott in all likelihood did not know about the loans to the property developers. Lord Levy on the other hand mixes in the same social circles as Sir David Garrard and Andrew Rosenfeld, the property millionaires behind Minerva.

Sleazy Levy would know that they were risking millions on getting government approval, they would therefore be vulnerable to an approach from the Labour party’s fundraiser – well, if you have a £600 million property development resting on government approval what is a £3 million “loan”? It represents less than 1/2% of the development cost.

Capita with billions in government contracts would also be vulnerable, we all know you “do not to ask for credit because refusal often offends”. What businessman would want to offend their biggest customer, even if as Labour claims it was unlikely to make any real difference, would you as CEO want to risk offending the source of more than half your revenues? Rod Aldridge didn’t approach Labour with an offer to help, they approached him – “The Labour Party came to me last year in need of financial support following the costs incurred at the last general election”, he said.

Businessman are cynical about politicians, most would view such an approach as a shakedown, but what real choice would they have?