The Electoral Commission is investigating tens of thousands of pounds the Conservative Party has received from the Said family, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Wafic Said was a key figure in the highly controversial Al-Yamamah arms deal between Saudi Arabia and the UK. Allegations of corruption surrounding the deal were being investigated by staff at Britain’s Serious Fraud Office – until they were ordered to drop the investigation because it was supposedly against the national interest. Tough on crime? Only when it suits.

Although the Liberal Democrats – and Norman Lamb in particular – have been vocal in their criticisms of …

News from The Red Box blog:

A major breakthrough in Freedom of Information rules has happened today, thanks to the tireless work of Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman and FOI expert.

The Information Tribunal has forced Downing Street to release the names of every official, adviser and minister met by the Prime Minister in “internal meetings” during the period of one month.

You can read the full post here.

Update: The Guardian has more:

The ruling by the tribunal, taken with another recent decision to release the minutes of a lobbying meeting between the media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Blair over

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Today’s Observer brings us the story of how the NHS is spending money on getting celebrities to take part in health information campaigns but insisting on keeping the details secret in case it puts people off:

The Department of Health, which increasingly uses actors, singers, television stars and sports personalities to convince the nation to adopt healthier habits, refuses to admit how much it spends on celebrity campaigns. Now critics have accused the government of “unacceptable secrecy” following speculation that stars are being paid up to £10,000 a day for their appearances.

The DoH has rejected a bid by the Observer under

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The first of yesterday’s speeches from members of the party’s front bench team was by Norman Lamb, our Shadow Health Secretary. And, by the magic of teh internets, here it is:

You can also read Norman Lamb’s speech on the party website.

Labour peer Doug Hoyle has been cleared of deliberate misconduct by an inquiry into the circumstances in which he introduced Michael Wood, an advisor to the arms industry, to Lord Drayson, the Minister responsible for arms procurement. Hoyle failed to declare that he was receiving money from Michael Wood, but defended himself saying that the payments were not related to the meeting.

Although the Lords inquiry cleared him of deliberate misconduct,

The group did not interview any witnesses about the allegations, nor did it take evidence from Drayson or the Ministry of Defence.

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat frontbench MP, said: “The peers are

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From the BBC:

NHS data reveals that in 1997-98 average waits stood at 41 days, but by last year had risen to 49 days.

The government said it was the price paid for the end of really long waits, but doctors said longer waits included some patients with serious conditions…

Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb added: “These figures massively undermine Labour’s claims to have made a substantial difference to NHS waiting times.”

Labour manifesto, 1997: “work towards the elimination of mixed-sex wards”

Labour health minister Lord Darzi (a practising surgeon), yesterday: “The only way we’re going to have single-sex wards within the NHS is to build the whole of the NHS into single rooms. That is an aspiration that cannot be met.”

Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health, isn’t too impressed: “This is an astonishing admission of failure on an issue of crucial importance to patients. The Government has flip-flopped on this manifesto commitment for over 10 years. We now have a clinician blowing the gaff on a political commitment …

Iain Dale, that paragon of impartial and erudite words of wisdom on UK politics (occasionally, when he’s not being an unthinking Tory loyalist obviously), has published the results of his poll on which MPs have performed best in the last month.

The poll was open to readers of his website who (as Iain acknowledges) are a rather Conservative leaning bunch overall. All of which makes Vince Cable’s result in topping the poll all the more impressive – beating David Cameron into second place.

Overall this is how the Liberal Democrat MPs performed (the scores are average marks):

By popular request, here’s the current list of which Lib Dem MPs have declared for which leadership candidate so far. (Originally compiled with the help of Jonathan Isaby of The Daily Telegraph.)

The list shows that Nick has attracted two MPs who supported Chris as leader in 2006: Greg Mulholland and Stephen Williams; and eight who supported Simon Hughes (all listed below). Chris has attracted one former Ming Campbell backer – Tom Brake – and three MPs who supported Simon Hughes last time.

Eight MPs have stated they will not declare for any candidate; four have yet – so far as I’m aware – to state their intentions.

As we continue to note, the number of MPs who declare for any one candidate is, in one sense, irrelevant: we are a one-member-one-vote party. Clearly, however, MPs’ endorsements will carry some influence with party members, especially among non-activists.

The full list appears below:

I’m grateful to Jonathan Isaby of The Daily Telegraph, who has compiled (and allowed me to reproduce here) his up-to-date list of which Lib Dem MPs have declared for which leadership candidate so far.

Jonathan comments: “Below are my most up-to-date lists, which suggest that Huhne now cannot possibly overtake Clegg in terms of MPs declaring. Brackets state where they went in the 2006 election.”

The list shows that Nick has attracted two MPs who supported Chris as leader in 2006: Greg Mulholland and Stephen Williams; and seven who supported Simon Hughes (all listed below). Chris has attracted one former Ming Campbell backer – Tom Brake – and two MPs who supported Simon Hughes last time.

Nine MPs have stated they will not declare for any candidate; 14 have yet to state their intentions.

As was pointed out in the comments on yesterday’s thread, the number of MPs who declare for any one candidate is, in one sense, irrelevant: we are a one-member-one-vote party. Clearly, however, MPs’ endorsements will carry some influence with party members, especially among non-activists.

It will also influence how the media perceives, and then reports, the strengths of the respective leadership campaigns. Though, of course, being seen as the favourite is not always the most comfortable of positions, as Ming Campbell discovered last time. Lib Dems do love an underdog.

You can’t accuse Norman Lamb, Lib Dem shadow secretary of state for health, of slipping out gently his policy proposal that patients needing emergency NHS treatment after becoming drunk or incapacitated by drugs should be charged:

“If you get rat-arsed on a Friday night and get taken to A&E where you are foul and abusive to staff, is it right for the taxpayers to fund your life-saving treatment?”

Though this is perhaps the most eye-catching proposal from Norman – gathering headlines in The Guardian, The Times and BBC.co.uk – it is by no means the only one.

His paper – not Lib Dem policy, but his contribution to the party’s health policy working group – proposes:

Let’s not accuse Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Health, of gently slipping out his latest policy proposal – that patients needing emergency NHS treatment after becoming drunk or incapacitated by drugs would be charged:

“If you get rat-arsed on a Friday night and get taken to A&E where you are foul and abusive to staff, is it right for the taxpayers to fund your life-saving treatment?”

The Guardian reports that, “The proposals are understood to have strong support from Sir Menzies Campbell, the Lib Dem leader.”

Perhaps the more significant aspects of the proposals, though, are contained …

The New Statesman blog devotes a column to the Norman Lamb Facebook saga:

In an unprecedented turn of events, the blogosphere was focused on East Anglia for much of this week. Recent reports of identity thieves finding a rich resource on Facebook were highlighted in the ongoing saga involving the profile on the social networking site of Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb. A brief history of which is covered at Lib Dem Voice.

The same IP address was shown to be responsible for tampering with Lamb’s Wikipedia entry and also uploading an anti-Lib Dem video on YouTube. Various

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