Last week Guido reported on some very fishy goings on down in Sutton, where the Lib Dem council gave a £1 million discount to a company of which neighbouring MP Tom Brake is a trustee. Guido can now reveal that two of Brake’s aides are Sutton LibDem councillors, and both failed to make any declarations of interest at the council meeting last Monday where the dodgy deal was finalised. Callum Morton and Manuel Abellan, both currently in Brake’s employ, signed off the cushy agreement without mentioning their boss’ links to the firm that stands to benefit. Curiouser and curiouser…

The local Tories are not unreasonably up in arms, writing to the chairman of the council’s audit committee to demand an investigation:

“As this large public building has been sold for considerably below its estimated market value, without any genuine consideration of the available options, we request that this matter is investigated to ensure that the sale was conducted with suitable transparency.”

Why didn’t Brake’s staffers declare their massive conflict of interest?