Shakespearean Tragedy

Well, we now know that at least one Labour bigwig knew that David Abrahams was using proxies to make donations to the party. Baroness Margaret Jay, daughter of the late Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan, warned Hilary Benn not to accept a donation from a third party because it was in fact from Mr Abrahams. Next question: how did Baroness Jay know and how many others knew?

Last night it emerged that the sums donated by Mr Abrahams are higher than previously stated and amount to at least £673,975.

Gordon Brown must be dreading PMQs today. Not only is he likely to be savaged over the donations affair, but he will still have to contend with the ongoing nightmares of the Northern Rock and HMRC.

Labour MPs are clearly in a state of shock at the moment. Last month they were gearing up for an election they expected to win; now they are mentally battening down the hatches and preparing for a two-year slog towards an election they expect to lose.

Some are reacting in an extraordinarily brittle way; last night, a North Wales member became remarkably tetchy with me when I mildly suggested to him that his party was in a bit of a stew.

Others are more resigned. Bob Marshall-Andrews, MP for Medway, is quoted in today's Telegraph as saying: "There is a growing sense that we are part of a Shakespearean tragedy here. Blow after blow is falling; they are not in themselves related but they have a cumulative effect. The net effect is an atmosphere of inevitable and impending doom."

Mr Benn Again

Spoke yesterday in the opposition day debate on the government's handling of the foot and mouth outbreak.

The chamber was pretty full on the opposition side, but the government benches were virtually empty, underlining the fact that Labour have little interest in agriculture or in the rural way of life. There were only two speeches from the Labour back benches.

The Secretary of State, Hilary Benn, is a decent man. There were no calls for his resignation, principally because he had been in post for only a short time before the outbreak occurred. However, there is no doubt that there has been incompetence on an appalling scale in the management of the Pirbright laboratory, and it is quite unacceptable that, over two months after the event, no heads have rolled.

I asked the Secretary of State why the following words, which appeared in the original draft of his statement to the House on 8 October, had been removed by the time he actually delivered it:

“I have also agreed with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury that Scotland should receive £8.1 million and Wales £6.5 million to assist them in countering the impacts of foot and mouth on their livestock farmers.”

I received no answer.

Oh, my prophetic soul

Those poor souls who are regular readers will recall that, on 8 September, blogging on the foot and mouth affair, I wrote:

“What sort of country have we become, where abject, monumental failure in public office is met with a shrug of the shoulders?

“No doubt we will soon be told by some Labour talking head that we will have to learn the lessons and move on.”

Consider now the following extract from Monday's Hansard (Hilary Benn's statement to the House):

“Finally, am I sorry that this has happened? I have already said that I am. Nobody would have wished this to happen, and I repeat that it should not have happened. But when something like this goes wrong—as it has—what is the important thing that we should do? We should learn the lessons, sort it out and make sure that it does not happen again.”

We really have got to get rid of them.

Mr Benn

The Iraq statement was followed by a one-hour statement by Defra Secretary, Hilary Benn, on the foot and mouth and bluetongue outbreaks. The Tory side of the chamber was full, with many members, myself included, trying, but failing, to catch the Speaker’s eye.

Hilary Benn is a quite different character from Gordon Brown; he was, in terms, apologetic for the release of the FMD virus from the Pirbright establishment. He promised a rather meagre package of support for the farming industry and said that the "devolved administrations" in Wales and Scotland were also providing some help - out of their existing resources, it would appear.

The support, though welcome, is inadequate and will not prevent many farmers going to the wall. One member asked about further compensation; Benn said that it was not government policy to indemnify in respect of “consequential economic loss” – which is what most farmers have sustained.

The NFU is taking counsel’s opinion on the prospects of its members successfully suing for damages over their losses resulting from the FMD affair. Benn’s remarks make it clear that the government intends to resist any such claim.