Advance Together has registered as both a political party and a non-party campaign – a clear abuse of the law. The pro-LibDem pretend political party has bragged about this allowing them to effectively double their national spending limit. It appears that Advance Together have fielded five paper candidates to extend their spending limit in five selected Tory-LibDem marginal constituencies. Regular non-party campaigners are limited to spending just £700 per constituency when campaigning against a specific candidate, by virtue of standing fake candidates, Advance Together has extended its spending limit to £12,000. They’ve even gloated about this…

If only there was a campaign legally allowed to spend £12k against him in his constituency… oh hang on…. https://t.co/qNaqxMzHAE

— advance (@advanceGE2019) December 3, 2019

As Guido has previously reported, their campaign literature in these seats only attacks Conservative candidates – it doesn’t even promote their own candidates. They have also confirmed their candidates aren’t standing to win…

Nope. Our candidates are there to be tactical. Not to win. It’s important.

— advance (@advanceGE2019) November 27, 2019

Every single one of their 600 microtargeted adverts on Facebook is an anti-Tory advert. The Advance Together team is suspiciously made up of ‘former’ LibDem activists…

It’s not just Dominic Raab who is facing mysteriously un-branded attack leaflets. The leaflets, paid for by a new party called ‘Advance Together’, all attack the Tory incumbent and do nothing to mention their nondescript party. In total, five ‘Advance Together’ candidates are standing, all in Tory-held Lib Dem target seats…

• Wokingham (John Redwood)
• Mid Sussex (Mims Davies)
• Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami)
• Esher and Walton (Dominic Raab)
• Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers)

‘Advance Together’ looks more and more like a Lib Dem front than a legitimate political party. The leader of the party stood as a top LibDem parliamentary candidate in the last election, and the ‘campaign director’ worked for Simon Hughes.

An election expert tells Guido these are not cheap leaflets. The quality and quantity of the leaflets which have flooded constituencies has led teams on the ground to believe that they have been delivered by Liberal Democrats and have serious experience behind them. One source in Chipping Barnet tells Guido:

“They have to have been delivered by Lib Dem leafleting teams. ‘Advance Together’ doesn’t have a ground game.”

Annabel Mullin, the ‘former’ Liberal Democrat who runs Advance Together has said explicitly on her company’s website that “our objective is to syphon Tory votes to the Lib Dems.”

These fake candidates supporting the Lib Dems effectively doubles the Liberal Democrat spending limit in each seat…

Esther and Walton residents today found leaflets being pushed through their letterboxes attacking Dominic Raab’s handling of the Harry Dunn case. It even came with a lovely poster…

The leaflet comes from candidate Kyle Taylor who is standing for ‘Advance Together’. It includes a number of blunt low-blows as well as certain fonts that are reminiscent of a Lib Dem leaflet – so what is ‘Advance Together’?

Advance Together is a party led by Annabel Mullin (who promotes the anti-Raab leaflet) – a former Lib Dem candidate for Kensington and Change UK candidate in the EU elections.

Kyle Taylor – the candidate putting the anti-Raab leaflet out – is also a former Lib Dem, having worked as Chief of Staff to Simon Hughes MP for three years and his campaign manager in 2017. He also worked for Best for Britain.

Kyle also ran the ‘Fair Vote Project’ – a failed campaign established by Guido’s friends Zoolander Shahmir and Chris Wylie.

Kyle’s leaflets make no mention of his new ‘party’ and only mention his name once in a small font. It’s unlikely voters will remember the name Kyle Taylor or Advance Together when they get to the ballot box. They will remember the attack on Raab.

This kind of kamikaze candidate attack will only help the Lib Dems and Kyle gets an extra £30,000 to spend to help his real favoured party out, while keeping the Lib Dems ‘clean’ of such extreme negative campaigning. Expect even more dodgy tactics from Lib Dems as election day approaches…

Guido has reported on the Lib Dem, Tory, and UKIP leadership races that are all concurrently rumbling on but today another party joined the fray: a minor anti-Brexit party called ‘Renew’ has seen its leader abruptly resign this morning and be replaced by a former Conservative MEP. This comes as ‘Renew’ finished in thirteenth place in the Peterborough by-election behind the Monster Raving Loony Party and a man dressed as Elmo…

Outgoing leader Annabel Mullin had stood as a Change UK candidate in the European Elections after an electoral pact between the two fledgling parties and lost badly. Former MEP Julie Girling has now been installed as interim leader before a contest is organised. Some say People’s Vote rebels within Labour had been preparing to make a move against Corbyn after a Peterborough loss, but seemingly Labour now is the only party without a Leadership crisis…

An Employment Tribunal in Holborn is hearing a high profile claim for sexual harassment and sexual discrimination against multi-millionaire businessman and would-be politician, Simon Franks. Franks, the founder of LoveFilm, plans to launch his new centrist political party named United for Change in May. His new centrist party wants “to do things differently”.

Franks failed in his attempt to obtain a gagging order to prevent Guido reporting the details of the case. Ms Annabel Mullin, a former Liberal Democrat candidate for Kensington in the 2017 General Election, took up employment with United for Change last year. The new party has been plagued by high staff turnover. A row took place in February 2018 in which Franks told the new employee of only a few weeks to “f**k off”. Mullin reportedly then informed Mr Franks of her concerns about a photo that was on the Internet of Mr Franks holding with a male friend of his, a cartoon style picture of two penises. She accused him of being the artist and queried menacingly how this picture would play in the Daily Mail. Franks admits he responded – in an allegedly blasé and self satisfied manner – that he did not draw the picture, as if had he done so “he would have drawn a bigger penis.”

Mullin, a former police officer, claims she found Franks’ comments and behaviour offensive. Franks is then alleged to have dismissed her concerns and said to various staff present that “he could f******g sack the lot of them”. Franks told Ms Mullin, after arriving at work the next day, that he felt he had been made to feel “like a pervert” and driven to drink a bottle of wine that night by her comments. Lawyers at the hearing are arguing over whether her employment was terminated before or after she raised the issue of the ‘dick pic’.

Ms Mullin has brought claims for sexual harassment, sex discrimination, victimisation and whistleblowing against United for Change and Franks. The case papers also disclose that Franks apparently also faces an additional, separate Employment Tribunal claim for alleged age and sexual harassment/discrimination by a female job candidate in relation to questions he allegedly asked at a job interview in April 2018. There are also allegations of a series of other allegedly offensive and discriminatory remarks made by Franks according to two eyewitnesses who no longer work there.

Franks readily admits being difficult to work for and to swearing too much, he told the hearing that his “12 year-old daughter collects money off me every time I swear” in a swear box. Annabel Mullin is now leader of the centrist Renew Party. It is the second centrist party she has lead in 2 years…

Simon Franks alleges that her case is part financed by rival centrist millionaires to destroy United for Change and his reputation. Mullin denies it. The hearing continues…