Guido can reveal the Liberal Democrat chief executive Tim Gordon has resigned. Gordon was appointed by Tim Farron in 2011, and after weeks of internal speculation in LibDem circles that Vince Cable wanted him out, the party boss has fallen on his sword. A LibDem source says “he jumped before he was pushed”, the move is being seen as a Cable power grab. Well, as far as any power can be grabbed in the LibDems.

Gordon was the LibDems’ registered campaign officer in the 2015 general election – he was the subject of a police probe after the Electoral Commission found £184,676 missing from his spending return. The Electoral Commission found Gordon had committed an offence under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act and fined the LibDems the maximum £20,000 fine as a result. Gordon’s previous claim to fame was handling the review into LibDem harassment following the Rennard scandal, another stunning success. A LibDem spokesman confirms he is out. Bye…

UPDATE: Sir Vince says: “Tim has managed the party staff and finances very effectively during challenging times, and I want to thank him for ensuring that the party is now in such good order to move back into the centre of British political life.” Hardly glowing…

The Electoral Commission has given the LibDems the maximum £20,000 election fraud fine, ruled they committed multiple offences and referred them to the police. Guido had previously told how LibDem candidates had split their spending between their local and national spend – they even had a handy spreadsheet used to cook the books. Time and time again the LibDems told us they had done everything above board. The Electoral Commission’s investigation uncovered 307 payments totalling £184,676 which the candidate had split between local and national spend, but which were missing from the national return. They have ruled that the LibDems committed multiple offences under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act and issued them with the maximum fine. They also slammed the LibDems for contributing to “damage to public confidence” and “detriment to transparency in politics”. Here’s the real kicker: the Electoral Commission notes that knowingly or recklessly making a false declaration is a more serious criminal offence, of which they believe the LibDems are guilty. They have referred the matter to the Metropolitan Police…