Alan Johnson too?

doctordunc Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 10:17:03 PM GMT Print-friendly version Facebook

Seems Alan Johnson is going to get some unhelpful headlines in the morning too.




The four undeclared donations appear to be more cock-up than conspiracy (I can't imagine why you would declare donations to party and parliament but not the electoral commission deliberately) but the allegation of a third party donation will be a more difficult one for Johnson and his team.

We're not talking the same sort of amounts of money as Hain, and there are no dubious think tanks in the mix, but the press and opposition are going to be suggesting that Brown has now set a precedent and be calling for resignations.

On a broader question - what was going on in that contest?  Does anybody looking at Harriet Harman today feel that her role was a prize worth these sorts of sums of money?

It is bizarre in the extreme.  (What is more bizarre is the amount of money raised and apparently spent on Gordon Brown's leadership campaign!)

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Alan Johnson too? | 3 comments (3 topical)

Re: Alan Johnson too? (#1)

by David Boothroyd on Sun Jan 27, 2008 at 12:37:55 AM GMT

There may be a very simple explanation for why the donation to Alan Johnson's deputy leadership campaign does not appear on the Electoral Commission register. If the donation was to the Alan Johnson for deputy leader campaign, then the threshold for registration is likely to have been £5,000 and not £1,000. The deputy leadership campaigns are normally classed by the Electoral Commission as 'membership associations'.


Re: Alan Johnson too? (#2)

by swatantra on Sun Jan 27, 2008 at 09:54:58 AM GMT

For goodnes sake, the sums of money involved is peanuts compared to the 'gross avoidance' allegedly in Hain's case. Wendy Harriet and Alan should be just given a sharp rap across the knuckles, and fined, the money going to Shelter or some other charity. Why are we wasting all this time on this.


Re: Alan Johnson too? (#3)

by NorthernMonkey on Sun Jan 27, 2008 at 11:47:08 AM GMT

From what I can tell, Johnson's done absolutely nothing wrong.

Re the 'proxy donor', well the Johnson campaign knew the donor was British, on the electoral register and a member of Labour and everything was registered to the Electoral Commission and was above board. How on earth is Alan Johnson supposed to know that this donor received his money from someone else? Are Secretaries of State for Health supposed to possess psychic powers these days?

Re the four donations not on the Electoral Commission, the Johnson campaign say they were registed but the Electoral Commission failed to put them on their website and the Johnson campaign informed them of this and then re-registered them again just to make sure.


A load of fuss about nothing.


Alan Johnson too? | 3 comments (3 topical)