Questions for Harriet Harman
- 29 Nov 07, 07:21 PM
Harriet Harman is STILL fundraising for the deputy leadership election that finished on the 24th June.
Why? I'm told her campaign vastly overspent the donations received during the contest. One of her team told me they were "deficit financed".
She's holding a fundraiser at a nightclub in Leicester Square in London next Wednesday. The invitation says:
"This is the last opportunity to raise funds towards the cost of our very successful campaign"
My question is simple - where will the money raised go?
Clearly it's not for current expenditure since the contest finished long ago. If the campaign is paying back loans, then those loans should have been reported within 30 days to the electoral commission.
The Electoral Commission's entry for Harriet Harman only records one loan arrangement - an overdraft facility for 拢10,000 with Nat West taken out in October 2006.
This lunchtime I filed a series of 11 questions to the Labour Party - I'm still waiting for a response
Here are the questions:
1 How did Harriet Harman fund her campaign for the deputy leadership election?
2 How much did the campaign cost to run in total?
3 Is the loan for 拢10,000 pounds from the National Westminster Bank taken out on the 3rd October 2006 the only loan she has entered into to fund her campaign?
4 Why is she still raising money for a campaign that finished on 22nd June 2007?
5 Where will the money go that is raised at the event planned for 5th December 2007 at Sounds Nightclub in Leicester Square?
6 If the money raised at this event goes towards settling campaign debts, where are the required records of those debts?
7 Did she borrow money in her own name for the purposes of the campaign without declaring it to the electoral commission as a loan?
8 Did she borrow money against any assets owned jointly with Jack Dromey for the purpose of funding her campaign?
9 Why is Harriet Harman using her office in the House of Commons as a base from which to raise party political funds, in contravention of Parliamentary rules? (the initiation for her fund raiser on the 5th December invites people to send donations to Charlotte Montague at her office at the House of Commons)
10 Is Charlotte Montague鈥檚 salary paid from Harriet Harman鈥檚 MP鈥檚 allowances?
11 If Charlotte Montague is paid from Harriet Harman鈥檚 MP鈥檚 allowances why is she working on Harriet Harman鈥檚 campaign from Harriet Harman鈥檚 office at the House of Commons? Why has she not registered this in the relevant register of interests for MP鈥檚 staff?
In the last few minutes the electoral commission has decided to refer the Labour disguised donations affair to the Metropolitan Police "for further investigation." So could we be on the cusp of another criminal investigation into a New Labour funding row? Tonight Newsnight has more information about the Labour Cabinet Minster Harriet Harman, and questions about how she funded her successful campaign to become Deputy Leader of the party. 
Last autumn, former Treasury mandarin and World Bank Chief Economist, Sir Nicholas Stern warned the world of the economic and social costs of climate change. (Watch his 
The Labour Deputy leader, is in Parliament today, and is likely to come under from MPs about how she came to accept 拢5,000 from a conduit for . She has said that she didn't know that the donation really came from him, but what did she know and when? Newsnight has some other awkward questions for Ms Harman.