Which could prove embarrassing for all concerned if she wins on Thursday.
Note too her reluctance to answer questions on the matter.
You can find earlier Michael Crick reports on this blog.
Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cornwall. Show all posts
Latest Michael Crick report on 2015 Conservative elections expenses
Which could prove embarrassing for all concerned if she wins on Thursday.
Note too her reluctance to answer questions on the matter.
You can find earlier Michael Crick reports on this blog.
Electoral Commission asks for more time to consider Conservative election expenses
The elections watchdog has asked for more time to pursue possible criminal prosecutions regarding Tory election spending, as a summit is called to consider the evidence revealed by Channel 4 News.
Following months of investigations by Channel 4 News, the Electoral Commission has requested an extension to the time limit available to pursue possible criminal prosecutions regarding Conservative Party campaign spending returns.
Bob Posner, Director of Party and Election Finance & Legal Counsel at the Electoral Commission said, “The police and the CPS both have the power to apply to the Courts to extend the time limit on bringing criminal prosecutions for electoral offences to allow for full investigations to take place. We have requested that they consider doing this.”
Representatives of the Electoral Commission and the Crown Prosecution Service will hold also hold a summit with a number of police forces to discuss the Conservative Party’s election expenses next week.Meanwhile the Cornish Guardian reports:
A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said that following complaints from "a small number" of members of the public, officers had launched an inquiry into allegations that Mr Mann's declared election expenses did not portray an accurate picture of his spending.
Mr Mann has vigorously denied any wrong-doing but has conceded that he did not know details of how some of the Conservative Party campaigning in his constituency had been accounted for.
The national party repeatedly sent campaigners to North Cornwall in a touring "Battle Bus."
At issue is whether the travel and accommodation expenses for those campaigners should have been declared locally, or as part of a national campaign spendIf the Electoral Commission, as it should, is taking this affair seriously, there is much more chance of it coming to something substantial than there would be if it were left to isolated local campaigners.
Mirror alleges Tories exceeded spending limit in 9 Lib Dem seats
This morning's Mirror takes up the Channel 4 News investigation of alleged Conservative overspending at the last general election.
Its report says:
A Mirror investigation today reveals how 24 Tory MPs failed to declare thousands of pounds spent on their election campaigns in marginal seats.
None of the MPs we name below declared the party's controversial RoadTrip battlebuses in local budgets, with Tory HQ picking up the tab instead.
If the estimated £2,000 cost of the bus had been included locally, some of the MPs could have breached strict spending limits.
Five Tory RoadTrip battlebuses crossed the country to help handpicked candidates in the final stages of last year’s election campaign, with head office picking up the tab.
The total cost of this campaign has never been published, but the Mirror has found invoices indicating it was more than £2,000 a day, including pay and expenses for volunteers and promotion costs.It is striking that 9 of the 24 seats the Mirror has identified were held by the Liberal Democrats:
- Wells
- Chippenham
- North Cornwall
- Thornbury and Yate
- Kingston
- Yeovil
- Torbay
- Cheltenham
- Sutton and Cheam
Bude, Boscastle and Port Isaac in 1955
From my Six of the Best 559:
"A truly wonderful film of a summer holiday in Bude in 1955," claims Paul Walter. And he is right. It really is wonderful. No doubt it will appear on this blog after a decent interval has elapsed.
Six of the Best 559
Chris Sayer presents his choice of the 20 mightiest small bookshops in the UK.
The children's writer Peter Dickinson has died. Britain is No Country for Old Men pays tribute to him.
"Arguments take place in online forums as to where exactly the house stood. Some are determined that there is a bit of old wall remaining and that they have stood in the back yard of the house. Others argue (plausibly) that the street alignment was changed on rebuilding, making a drain cover the location." Sarah Miller Walters on !0 Rillington Place - the house and the film.
Trisha xx has been to see the new Star Wars film and gives it five stars. Did you know, incidentally, that Daisy Ridley is the great niece of Arnold Ridley from Dad's Army?
"A truly wonderful film of a summer holiday in Bude in 1955," claims Paul Walter. And he is right. It really is wonderful. No doubt it will appear on this blog after a decent interval has elapsed.
Beach declared safe in Cornwall after 'mystery substance' discovered to be seaweed
Congratulations to the Western Morning News for winning our Headline of the Day Award (and thanks to a reader for nominating it).
