On the day it is revealed by Wikileaks that a government minister gave the Libyans advice on how to secure Al-Megrahi’s release and Gus O’Donnell announces he is opening up the files, it seems the the Guidoisation of politics is continuing.

Tory backbencher Pauline Latham asked the House earlier whether the government had any plans to start sending British cancer patients for treatment in Libya “given their higher survival rate”. Clearly a fan of Guy New’s Al Megrahi Watch. Fifteen months and counting since the beaks said he would die.

The looney left and the church don’t often go hand in hand, so imagine Guido’s surprise as Yes to AV declared this afternoon that they are walking in the path of the righteous man. In what is becoming an increasingly surreal campaign from the well funded LibDem front, ten Church of England Bishops have been lined up as a big-hitting endorsement:

“Voting systems are not value free. I am supporting a change on the grounds of justice and accountability. AV will increase the likelihood that the general preference of a majority rather than a plurality will shape the choice of MPs, and so Parliament.”

Although liking a two-thirds majority, the Papal conclave still uses first past the post in a dead-lock so Guido won’t be taking much notice of the new church’s view.

UPDATE: The No Campaign point out that one of the Bishops is the vice-president of the Electoral Reform Society, one of the Yes campaign’s biggest donors.

UPDATE II: Jonathan Bartley, the Yes spinner is also a religious fundamentalist. The Jihad has begun…

Guido is a little perplexed at some certain crimes not appearing on the new police.uk crime mapping site:

Type in the address and there is not a hint of Chaytor, Illsley or Taylor…

Miliband: Congrats on the Larry King thing by the way.

Morgan: Thanks. You’re going to be the least famous person I interview in the next 12 months.

Sir Ronnie “PFI” Cohen donated £1.8 million to Labour in the past and bankrolled Gordon’s ascendency to the top. Regular readers will remember that at one time the venture capitalist had a direct debit paying £20,000 a month to the party. He pretty much owned Gordon Brown.

Bad news for Ed Miliband then, as it seems this once loyal party donor has drifted away. Guido was most surprised to see Ronnie pop up on BBC 4’s “Justice: Fairness and the Big Society” as an audience member, quick to spin for Cameron:

“The gap between rich and poor is getting bigger. Those left behind find it extremely difficult to rise out of poverty. The government hasn’t been able to do anything much about that even though it’s cost an absolute fortune for decades… I think what the Big Society really means is that space between government and the private sector, which needs to deal with social issues in a professional way. And Cameron has said that every penny out of the hundreds of millions of pounds that are unclaimed assets in bank accounts will got to create a Big Society bank, who’s role will be to empower those who want to help others.”

Watch here from exactly 40 minutes in.

If the Tories hadn’t made enough of a mess from dodgy non-domiciled donors it would be worth trying to turn Ronnie…

Poor old Paxo doesn’t seem to have his heart in it any more – he is 60 – and he must be thinking are his 3-late-nights-a-week really worth the million-a-year he trousers?

The C-word came out last night on Newsnight. Once could be an accident, twice a coincidence, but this is third flagship BBC program to drop the c-bomb live on air in recent weeks. Do they have some sort of a bet going on?

Via : Political Scrapbook