Remember when Tim Yeo was caught out definitely not using Parliamentary facilities to help fundraise for his green investment firms? Well like with so many sleazy tactics, Labour have taken an idea and perfected it to an industrial standard. Balls and Brown may still be dirty words to most people with a wallet, but that hasn’t stopped Miliband attempting to branch out to some big city donor types.

Here he is hobnobbing with the Labour Finance and Industry Group, aka LFIG, aka city donors:

Despite their rhetoric and bashing, at the end of the day Labour is broke so last night the House of Commons Terrace Dining Room B played host to an LFIG dinner. Money men were invited to cough up eighty pounds for the pleasure of dining with John Denham. Initially Guido’s interest was piqued by the cost, which is a little on the steep side for subsidised Commons grub. The rules are very clear:

5. Use of Private Dining Rooms

5.1 Subject to the exclusions in 5.2, the private dining rooms are not to be used for direct or indirect financial or material gain by a Sponsor, political party, or any other person or outside organisation.

However with wines factored in, Guido is prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt that no profit was made. However that’s not to say the seeds of indirect gain have not be sown. LFIG have channelled the Labour Party £147,155 in the last five years. Where exactly are those sort of donations tapped up? Well on Parliamentary property it seems…