Crooks and other types of politician

That Honorable Gentleman, Peter Hain, must be breathing a sigh of relief at the moment. Never can a Cabinet minister have felt so chuffeded to hear that his country is slipping inexorably into recession, that its streets grow more lawless every day and that it is about to hand over what little is left of its sovereignty to the Soviet Republic of Europa.

Hain, we should remember, is the man who not only borrowed close to £200,000 and forgot to report it but was so inept in the spending of this huge sum of money that he managed to finish fifth in a six horse race in which most of the other runners have been also-rans so often that they only get invted to parties to make up the numbers. Now, to most people the humiliation of losing out to the likes of Harriet Harman and Hilary Benn would concentrate the mind wonderfully. It would certainly bring into fairly sharp focus the fact that they had gambled away almost 200 grand on a long-odds loser. Particularly since the money came in the form of loans, now due for repayment, , since the favours - which might have been perceived to be in the gift of the deputy Leader of the Labour party- are obviously no longer on offer.

Hain is most definitely not most people. Correction: Hain is nothing but has never quite come to terms with the fact. Thus he spends his life trying to convince himself that he is something, even when this involves continuous flip-flops of beliefs, affiliations and frienships. All in all, a fairly typical - modrn politician, in fact.

Let us hope that some breathing space between Europe, the end of the world as we know it and death on the streets might present itself and Mr Hain can have his collar felt like any other money launderer and corrupt politician.

Talking of which, why has it taken people so long to catch on to Red Ken Livingstone? The man has acted as if London is his personal fiefdom from the moment he was elected. That he got away with it up until now is almost solely due to the inability of most members of the political lobby to look behind the public, Cheeky Chappy, mask. The man is a conniving, evil and bent little succubus who has had his teeth into the soft tit of London for far too long. With any luck, he and Hain might get to share a cell together some time soon.

Why does it cost £200,000 to campaign to be Deputy Leader?

Peter Hain has had to own up to accepting at least £200,000 to fund his campaign to become Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Well, it might be £200,000. On the other hand, it could be more. No one seems to know for sure and the two people who should know - his ex-Campaign Manager and his successor - are too busy blaming each other to provide a sensible answer.
Of course, the truth of the matter is that Peter Hain himself should have made absolutely certain that evrything about his campaign was above board and conducted strictly in accordance with the letter of the law. As should Harriet Harman when it came to the conduct of her own Deputy Leadership bid. The fact that neither bothered to do so tells us a great deal about both of them - either they are terminally arrogant or just plain stupid - or both. Either way, they should be held to account for what they did. If they were small business owners who failed to declare income to the Taxman, claiming or feigning ignorance would not an acceptable defence. Neither should it be in their case.

Leaving aside the probable criminality of their actions, the question needs to be asked just why such eye-watering amounts were thrown at an election carried out within what amounts to a closed society. Between them, the half-dozen candidates spent £500,000. That's half a million pounds, for God's sake.

Where on earth did it all go?

According to the Electoral Commission, noo Labour had a membership of around 120,000 when the Deputy Leadership contest was held. That was 100,000 down from the previous year and about 300,000 fewer than the membership figures for 1997. In fact, the rapidly declining membership rolls were one of the factors that made illegal loans so essential to the party's survival.

Given such a huge defection rate, the 120,000 who remained must have been dyed in the wool Labour supporters. The kind of people who eat, sleep and drink politics. Most would probably have been able to quote chapter and verse on each candidate's background and what - if anything - they stood for. The BBC and the papers covered the campaign in some depth. All of the candidates had access to web sites, blog spots and e-mail. In terms of reaching and influencing the people that mattered -i.e those with a vote - they couldn't have had more weapons at their disposal.

So, what exactly did they spend the half mil on? What in Hain's campaign soaked up £200,000?
If Hain can spend so much on what amounted to a closed election and then not know exactly what he spent the money on, God forbid that we should ever let him have access to public funds in his role as a Government Miniter.