Ignorance no excuse for Chris Leslie

Forgive the self-reference, but it's an interesting addition to my post last week looking at quite what Chris Leslie, Gordon Brown's campaign manager, had known about David Abrahams's particular method of funding the Labour Party. Well, thanks to the assiduous research of a legally-minded reader, we now know that Mr Leslie is in no position to follow the example of Harriet Harman, Jon Mendelsohn and sundry others by claiming ignorance of the law.

Chris Leslie in happier days, with Blair and Blunkett

In July 2004, Mr Leslie was  Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and debated party funding with MPs in Westminster Hall, where he showed an admirable grasp of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000,  possible violations of which are now under investigation by Scotland Yard.

"The new regulatory system tightly defines those eligible to give donations to political parties, and it excludes, for example, donations from abroad. All donations of more than £200 have to be from permissible donors," Mr Leslie said at the time.   

Intriguingly in the light of Mr Brown's recent talk of more party funding reform, Mr Leslie also set out the "significant arguments against state funding," which he said would raise "the risk that reliance on state funding may remove an incentive for a party to cultivate its grass roots membership in order to raise money."