The Electoral Commission has announced it will not be taking any action against the Conservatives over an allegation that the party improperly took money from firm IPGL, allegedly backed by a loan from HSBC. The issue was raised by the SNP’s Roger Mullin in a letter to the Commission which was widely circulated on Twitter yesterday, to much fanfare from canary-brained lefties and hacks alike. It was the most manifestly bonkers conspiracy theory. That a privately owned company with a bank loan was laundering money for a publicly quoted bank. The Electoral Commission’s response says:

“Donors or lenders have no legal responsibility to report transactions to the Commission, therefore HSBC and IPGL did not and were not required to inform the Electoral Commission of these transactions… As we have not been presented with evidence that a breach of PPERA (Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 ) has occurred, we will not be taking further action in this matter.”

A total off-the-perch moment from those who thought this was a story…