Stick around to watch Ed Miliband try not to explode as Burnham introduces John Healey as his Chancellor…
Scotland Yard is assessing a complaint that Labour’s 2004 hunting ban was, in the words of a former party fundraiser, “bought and paid for” by a £1 million donation. Jonathan Powell’s name features prominently…
According to the Telegraph, the allegation – referred to the Met by pro-hunting campaigners – is that the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) gave Labour £1 million in 1996 in return for a manifesto commitment to ban hunting with dogs. Former Labour fundraiser Brian Basham claims it was Powell, then Blair’s chief of staff, who sent him to collect the cheque. Basham says it came with the message “We have to stop hunting with dogs”…
The complaint asks the police to examine the party for alleged misconduct in public office. The Met confirms it received a report on 20th April concerning “a donation made to a political party prior to the 1997 general election,” and that officers are assessing it. No investigation has been launched (yet), and Labour of course insists it’s a non-story. But the claims are awkward for Powell. He’s still in situ as Burnham’s National Security Adviser…
Some of this was planned beforehand. Announcements to be made in the coming hours and days…
Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Cat Little has told staff this morning that the Digital ID policy isn’t totally dead after all. Instead, it lives on within DCMS. She even apologised for the confusion given the briefings to the opposite effect. Not to mention the fact that Burnham’s spokesman said over the weekend that the “time and resource that was going to be spent on a national ID scheme will go instead to where it’s most needed, such as helping with the cost of living“. The cracks already appearing. Darren Jones is having a fantastic 24 hours post-sacking…
UPDATE: Guido hears Digital ID as a policy will die, but the infrastructure and teams around it are going to DCMS to close them down more gently. Instead of sacking them all straight away…
UPDATE II: No10 spokesman says at this afternoon’s Lobby briefing of political hacks, “Digital ID was not yet operational because the policy was in its consultation phase. It means the intention and effort can be used to tackling the abuses the of welfare and immigration systems…”
Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Cat Little has just outlined Burnham’s machinery of government changes to civil servants. The highlights, according to Guido’s sources:
Looking big…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”