Harriet gets harried

Harriet Harman says she acted "within both the letter and spirit of the law" in the row over David Abraham's disguised donations. That the whole scheme was illegal is now common knowledge. Gordon Brown said so yesterday. Ms Harman is surely a better politician than she gives herself credit for. I would have thought her antennae would be buzzing with enthusiastic questions. But no, she gladly accepted the cash for her deputy leadership campaign (after she was elected) with only the barest minimum of inquiry.

Hilary Benn, another deputy leader contender, has said he rejected the donation from Janet Kidd (the cover person in this case) after being told by one of his team, Baroness Jay, that the money was actually from Mr Abrahams. So did Hilary not say anything to the other contenders? Poor Harriet. Got lumbered, didn't she?

All that this tells us is that New Labour, or Bean Labour as we now know it, is full of some people capable of being quite nasty to each other. What was Theresa May saying about the Tories being seen as the nasty party?

Posted in: Harriet Harman,New Labour,sleaze