So the PM appoints as a Minister a man who has paid the Labour party £8.5 million (assuming he hasn’t forgotten another £2 million). Let us ignore, for the moment, that David Sainsbury has ministerial responsibility for GM foods, an industry in which he has financial interests via his holding in Diatech Ltd.

Guido can’t see Sainsbury being sacked in a re-shuffle, can you? Imagine the situation, Blair says “you’re fired”, Sainsbury says “you’re bankrupted” and calls in his loans to the Labour party (well, the ones he can remember). Is that any way to appoint Ministers of the Crown, on lend-lease terms?

David Sainsbury’s failure to declare £2m he gave to the Labour party is “in the clear” according to Downing Street. Doesn’t parliament have any say in this? We know Blair plans to abolish parliament, but it hasn’t happened yet.

UPDATE : Guido has been informed that Sainsbury has given Labour a total of £13 million. Blair made him a life peer in 1997 and Minister for GM Crops Science in 1998.