The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book
SKY NEWS is investigating money that flows around MPs in donations, second jobs and funding for all-party parliamentary groups. It’s good to see journalists “follow the money” around politics — which is something we are supposed to do, but often don’t.
Sky’s investigation highlighted and raised questions about one of the biggest blocks of donations. A company called MPM Connect is the third-biggest donor to MPs since the last election, giving £340,000 to three Labour right figures — Wes Streeting, Dan Jarvis and Yvette Cooper. The donations help run these “moderate” MPs’ offices — the cash promotes their political careers, not their luxury.
Sky is right to raise these questions — but it only really “followed the money” part of the way. While MPM Connect’s role is shadowy, it is possible to pin them down a bit more.
Labour’s toxic centrists have wealthy backers but there’s little to suggest they can win over MPs or party members in an open fight, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
Martin Taylor, the hedge-fund multimillionaire who has poured millions into pushing Labour rightwards, helped finance Lucy Powell’s supposedly dissenting campaign — suggesting her victory was not the ‘soft-left’ rebellion some have claimed, says SOLOMON HUGHES
It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES


