This email has been forwarded to Guido’s inbox this morning. CCHQ have put their campaigners on alert to a potential Lib Dem line of attack:

From: Mackintosh, David
Sent: 05 February 2010 09:46
To: All Battleground Directors; All Campaign Directors; All Regional Directors; All Regional Press Officers
Subject: PPCs who are councillors
Importance: High

Dear all,

For your information – I have received a number of e-mails regarding Freedom of Information requests submitted to councils requesting information on our councillors’ expenses where the councillor is also our PPC. The requests come from Tom Smithard who is based at Lib Dem HQ in Cowley Street. He is using a Googlemail account to request these and is using his private address and mobile number (xx Bxxxxx Axxxxx, Cxxxxxxx, Surrey SMX XXX / 07xxx xxx xxx)

Please let me know if you know of any instances where this has happened. Thanks to everyone who has already alerted me.

David

Tom Smithard (pictured) is Cowley Street’s grandly titled Parliamentary Campaigns & Intelligence Analyst and it seems he has rattled the Tories. The holier than thou Liberals are attempting to drag candidates into the expenses scandal before they are even MPs. Doing it covertly through personal email addresses even though an FOI request is an FOI request wherever it comes from.

Cowley Street better hope CCHQ don’t retaliate with some FOI requests concerning their PPCs and intriguing leaflet printing financing.