On Wednesday evening Nick Clegg’s lawyers sent Guido a three-page letter demanding we take down our story “Nick Clegg Cooked the Books for £17,652“ or else they would sue. They also threatened The Telegraph for following up our story (who complied).

Subsequently Labour and Tory supporters in Sheffield Hallam have put in complaints to the police. Privately Labour suspect the true spend in Sheffield Hallam was over six figures – way in excess of the legal limits.

Last night we cited just one example of missing transport costs going undeclared. Zero transport costs were declared by Clegg, yet the party advertised that it would pay the travel and accommodation costs of activists in Sheffield Hallam. Having been caught red-handed, how could they spin this away? The LibDem press office claimed the transport costs did not need to be declared because they were individually below the threshold for declarations* (£50). Yet they admit that the payments totaled more than £50. 

The LibDem press office imaginatively explained away the missing transport cost declarations by dividing the spend per capita and claiming it was therefore now below the threshold for declarations. This is just ridiculous. As Oliver Cooper pointed out:

@LibDemPress Ah, so if you order 100,000 leaflets in batches costing £49 each, it’s not a campaign expense? Sensational news. @GuidoFawkes

— Oliver Cooper (@OliverCooper) June 2, 2016

Let’s see what a judge thinks of that…

UPDATE: *There is some suggestion (see the featured comment below) that even this is incorrect. The £50 registration threshold apparently applies to donations not expense declarations.