Hello again. Here we are, less than a week out ‘til polling day – isn’t that exciting? Can you feel the winds of change in the air? Hear the buzz of optimism sweeping the land? Same, same.
This week Labour suspended corporate lobbyist-cum-election candidate Kevin Craig after learning that he’s being investigated by the Gambling Commission for betting against himself in the election – news that had Dark Arts feeling like the Joker (Heath Ledger version, not Joaquin).
Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like the real scandal here is Craig giving Labour £100,000, securing major access to frontbench Labour politicians for his lobby firm’s clients and then being ‘selected’ completely unopposed to contest a seat for the party – not that he later had a flutter against himself for what I’d, ahem, wager was probably a pretty insignificant amount of money. I did have a great time watching the rest of the political media slowly catch on that Craig was not just a candidate but also a significant donor, and for the large part failing to ask the next, obvious question. Perhaps this farce will cast a little more light on the issue of lobbyists in Labour among the wider media, though I won’t hold my breath.
