When Philip Hammond tried to sell the cuts package to the people of the north-east on Question Time last night he mentioned a deal with Hitachi to build high speed trains in the area. Jobs were promised, but Guido couldn’t help ponder why the business park in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, that will be at the heart of new project, sounded so familiar.

The penny dropped this afternoon – the Durham Green development project that built the park was caught up with an blast from the past. Two directors of the company were used by David Abrahams to channel money to the Labour Party, around £77,000, in 2005. Mysteriously planning objections to the project disappeared shortly after. Abrahams has been spotted back on the Westminster scene a lot in recent months and what a lovely coincidence that his little project has done so well…

“Mr Miliband wished him luck for October’s Tower Hamlets Mayoral elections.”

David Cameron’s old Etonian chum Bill Wiggin escaped the hatchet despite a previous promise from the PM that he would be sacked if he was to be found in breach of expenses rules. However new allegations have come to light that might put this old ally, whose wife Camilla is one of  Dave’s ex-girlfriends, in a pretty tricky spot.

During the investigation by John Lyon into his expenses, Wiggin told the Commissioner: “I could not claim the second home discount because Hammersmith and Fulham Council do not allow residents parking permits for second homes. Therefore I was not able to claim any discount.” And Piggin’ Wiggin was absolutely correct – the council website says:

“Who cannot apply for a residents permit?  Residents who own a property in Hammersmith and Fulham but spend the majority of their time at a different address.”

But is the little piggy telling porkies? Wiggin lives in the 4×4 haven of Parsons Green, does he really not have a car in town? If he ever applied for a parking permit he would be misleading the council as to where his main home really is, if what he told the commissioner was true. How do we know Piggin’ Wiggin’ told a porky? He claimed back for the cost of a residents parking permit on his expenses last year of course:

Oh dear it seems that Mr Wiggin must have declared that his London house is his Main Home in an official document to the council, yet at the same time he was claiming tens of thousands of pounds by telling parliament it was his second home. Potentially every claim since 2001 has been false.

Backed by extremists, the independent Lutfur Rahman has won his smear campaign against the Labour Party and taken control of almost a billion pound budget as the Mayor of Tower Hamlets. Andrew Gilligan has become somewhat expert on the race and reports of Luftur’s supporters scolding women on the way to the polls for their immodest dress and lists the wake of destruction his campaign has left. But who was it that helped this dubious race? Well the candidate had the backing of Respect and extreme Islamic groups, but it seems that there was one endorsement he was particularly proud of if he his leaflets are anything to go by:

Ken Livingstone’s dodgy allies have hurt him in the past and his radio silence since dipping his oar into the race is very telling. This is going to be a headache for Red Ed, as is his party’s choice for Mayor of London…

Guido couldn’t help but chuckle as the red’s star player stormed off in a huff. The Rooney story has been the media’s non-political antidote to the last few days of cuts, but given that Blair used to call David Miliband “my Rooney”, the parallel is even funnier. Still waiting for Blair’s Ferguson style “I just don’t know what went wrong” press conference though…

UPDATE: With a rare moment of wit, the Fabian’s Sunder Katwala notes that “Wayne & David both went into this summer’s big tournament with very high hopes and expectations; and badly underperformed”.

Eyebrows were raised and smirks stifled this morning as Nick Robinson was awarded the title of “Blogger of the Year” by Editorial Intelligence. Given that Robinson’s blog consists of  someone transcribing what he says on News at Ten and posting it on the BBC website, perhaps someone who puts in at least a little more effort should have been rewarded. Robinson hasn’t had a very good year and admits he must try harder. Missing stories right under his nose, forgetting his lines and quite simply getting the facts wrong. He shared his views on blogging once:

Don’t forget this is the man who said David Miliband had won the Labour leadership live on the BBC just seconds before the actual result was announced. Somehow that transcript wasn’t published…

UPDATE: It appears Will Straw has also vented some spleen about the decision.

UPDATE II: Some of the other winners make a lot more sense, like Quentin Letts for best sketch writer.