Following Guido’s exclusive yesterday, the Electoral Commission put out a bland statement that they were “monitoring non-party campaigners“. Tory vice-chairman Paul Scully has now written to the Electoral Commission to raise their concerns about Momentum’s failure to register as a non-party campaigner for the upcoming election. In less than 12 hours, Momentum claimed they’ve already raised £100,000.
If a non-party campaigner intends to spend more than £20,000, the law requires that they should be registered with the Electoral Commission. Momentum have already been spending money over the last couple of months so could well have already committed a technical breach. The law clearly states that under Political Parties Elections Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) non-party campaigners are required to register with the Electoral Commission if they incur ‘controlled expenditure’ over a prescribed threshold during the ‘regulated period’ prior to an election. We are now in the regulated ‘long campaign’.
PPERA requires organisations to register with the Electoral Commission as a recognised party if they intend to spend more than £20,000 in England on ‘controlled expenditure’ during the ‘regulated period’ before an election. Guido has no doubt that Momentum are deliberately and intentionally flouting the law to avoid monitoring and transparency requirements. Moderate Labour MPs are convinced that Momentum would rather pay a £20,000 fine from the Electoral Commission then have it revealed that they are spending money to predominantly support their hard-left factional candidates…
UPDATE: The Electoral Commission say that Momentum have now submitted their non-party campaigner registration and they are reviewing it.
A non-party campaigner is a group that campaigns in the run up to elections but is not a political party and does not stand candidates. Non-party campaigners must register with us if they plan to spend more than £20k in England or £10k in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
— Electoral Commission (@ElectoralCommUK) October 31, 2019
Guido is intrigued to know how Momentum will keep within the legal spending limits when they plan to raise £200,000…
Boris has put the finishing touches on his reshuffle this afternoon by appointing a fresh batch of Tory MPs to support new Party Chairman James Cleverly in CCHQ. Paul Scully was appointed Deputy Chairman last week alongside Helen Whately who remains in the role, now six further MPs have been appointed Parliamentary Vice Chairmen:
- Andrew Bowie
- Sir David Evennett
- Helen Grant
- Ranil Jayawardena
- Caroline Johnson
- Alec Shelbrooke (reappointed)
No word yet on who’s got the “youth” brief. Or whether they’ll be younger than former youth Vice Chair Nigel Huddlestone at 48 years young…
Tory conference finally saw the energy and passion it has been lacking this week courtesy of the InHouse Communications karaoke night. Partygoers witnessed peak Matt Hancock as he took to the stage to sing Happy Birthday to himself, before performing a high octane duet of Don’t Stop Me Now with Therese Coffey (watch above). James Cleverly and Kelly Tolhurst attempted Don’t Go Breaking My Heart before Clevz redeemed himself with a more impressive rendition of Twist and Shout, complete with memorable hip action. Will Quince demonstrated surprising depth as he had the room hand-waving to My Way. Nigel Evans gave us Delilah, David Mundell just about made his way through 500 Miles and a Brexit-backing cross-party trio of Paul Scully, Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Ian Paisley Jnr had the room rocking to Sweet Caroline. Then it was the turn of the Lobby…
Faisal Islam took great pleasure in adapting the lyrics of Don’t Look Back in Anger to belt out “So, Boris can wait” – just the latest MSM smear. Dan Hodges and Glen Owen teamed up with Number 10 Sunday Lobby specialist Kirsty Buchanan to murder Mr Brightside. An emotional David Wooding, one arm raised aloft, sang You’ll Never Walk Alone, the only time he’ll be able to do that in Manchester. The night ended with Number 10’s Richard “Tricky” Jackson nailing You Raise Me Up. Hic…
After Sutton United goalkeeper Wayne Shaw was sacked for eating a pie, Sutton MP Paul Scully told Guido:
“It’s a sad footnote to an amazing week for Sutton United. I lost a few quid on some outside bets for a Sutton win. A dead cert would have been nice so I can see the problem with distorting the betting market. Wayne has added some colour to the Cup run but I hope this doesn’t take the shine off the club’s story. I’m sure he’ll be earning a crust from advertising pies in a puff piece somewhere even if his time in the limelight was short.”
Sensible words from Scully, will Sutton United eat humble pie?
UPDATE: A petition has been launched to reinstate Wayne Shaw, which can be signed here.
