Iain Dale: Not Crowing Over Wendy Alexander

Iain Dale says he isn't going to crow at Wendy Alexander stepping down as Scottish Labour leader. This was of course a position she won in an uncontested internal party election, "helped" by ten donations of more than £520, perhaps £10,000 in all, which were, following advice from officials, not declared everywhere they should have been. And then, following different advice from different officials, were of course duly declared.

But The Daily Mail of all organs probably has the real explanation for Iain's reticence. Not to put too fine a point on it the Tories have at least unlucky 13 current sleaze stories to contend with. Every single one of them far worse than any error or carelessness from the mighty WA.

Similar mistakes have been made in a contested Tory Party leadership election by David Davis and Liam Fox at very least. With the former aided and abetted in that campaign by the positively saintly Derek Conway and very famously by, the paragon of funding declarations, Iain Dale himself. Someone who has been very fond of saying how exceedingly careful and 100% correct all that stuff was under his personal stewardship. Whoops! As Iain says ignorance is no excuse.

And of course more of the same and worse in the general run of political donations and undeclared interests by Alan Duncan, George Osborne, Phillip Hammond and at least eight other Tory front benchers.

Thanks to the greatest of these: Hammond, Osborne and Duncan; the average quantum of these folk's discrepancies is some 30 times as great as in Alexander's case. And their political interest far, far greater in most if not all cases.

In GOOey Osborne's case with some hilarious-if-it-wasn't-so-serious disingenuous cover up story concocted to explain how the Tory's would be Chancellor was funded to the tune of £500,000 by various high falluting city interests, without feeling that this was in any way a declarable interest. And we have some of Iain's commentators quibbling about exactly what advice was sought and given. Check Osborne's cock and bull story won't you?

And Oily Duncan is still making chuckling denials of accepting £158,000 to run his office from the boss of the rather sleazy oil business Vitol, never mind accepting an alleged remunerated Directorship of Arawak energy which the Vitol Group own some 40% of.

UPDATE 15:33: It is noticeable that The Mail are saying that Vitol ITSELF, based in the Netherlands, has given significant funding to Duncan. rather than mentioning the group CEO Alan Taylor who appears in the Tory CCHQ declarations for the £158,000.

Each of these thirteen Tories has a vestigial red ribbon on their coat hook in the members cloakroom on which to hang their swords. Let's hope they all bring them in at the next opportunity and fall on them in a collective act of hari kari on College Green.

Caroline Spelman MP could officiate before necklacing a string of outstandingly greedy Tory MEPs and ducking a tribe of Conways into the Thames to see if they drown as they should, being complete innocents and all.

She can then be handed a length of stout rope, a 'useful knots' chart from Scouting for Boys, and a step ladder ... and pointed at a stout Oak Tree.

FOOTNOTE: How the BBC exclusively broke the story, including video of resignation announcement live on BBC. Amazingly Guido had not commented at all until 2:11 when he posted this guff here. As LOL Graphics were finally pulling their finger out.

Of course all the Tory Boy Bloggers missed the rather good "No More Donations" story of the time. LOL gave it to one outpost of the MSM. And will be pleased to receive credits of both kinds if others now pick it up.