Electoral Commission: beware

Members of the Electoral Commission would be wise to watch their backs. The unprecedented decision to refer Peter Hain to the police was made by the commissioners who met in Edinburgh on Wednesday. It was a brave thing to do and hopefully they should have been in little doubt that the move would be politically fatal for Hain. But yesterday the organisation seemed far-from-prepared for the inevitable: senior figures, we were told, were "in meetings" all day, usually a sign of internal chaos, while officials stuttered to explain what powers the commission actually has. They just kept pointing to page numbers in the the electoral legislation passed in 2000, insisting that it was "too sensitive" to add anything beyond the legalistic wording of the law.

It was probably dawning on them that by claiming its first scalp, the commission was once again stoking Labour enemies. And lo, a senior Labour source told this morning's Mirror: "It is unbelievable. There was no evidence of any serious wrongdoing. It was a late declaration of legal donations. It was a mistake, but an innocent mistake. The Electoral Commission just handed it over to the police without any thought of the consequences."

Whether the decision to refer Hain to the police was the right one will be decided in a magistrates' court, if it gets that far. The ex-Cabinet minister, who has twice been to court and won, strongly protests his innocence and will put up a considerable fight. If the Electoral Commission's actions result in a conviction, then it instantly become the hero of the democratic system. But if the Commission's decision turns out to be wrong...

Comments

[Richard]

I can think of nothing worse than the Electoral Commission having to make decisions taking into account of the political consequences to the people involved.

To make the charge that what has happened is the Electoral Commission's fault is ridiculous. Peter Hain did this, not the Electoral Commission. The Electoral Commission doesn't just send random MPs' names to the police. Also, Gordon Brown, himself, said that the law was broken. What would senior Labour figures want to be done, for the law to be ignored because of the political consequences to the politicians who broke the law?!

[DK]

These Labour tactics make me laugh and then puke. 'No fair, we broke the law so obviously the law is faulty. As Labour saints we wrote the law to specifically criminalize the Tories. It was never meant to be applied to Labour.'

[Chuck Unsworth]

"senior figures, we were told, were "in meetings" all day - usually a sign of internal chaos "

Who says? Sometimes its because people really cannot be bothered to talk to cretinous journalists in search of a headline.

As to referring the matter to the cops, well it's the Commission's decision and its responsibility to make such decisions.

[RW]

Sam, you need to calm down a bit and not just repeat the standard New Labour smear stuff without thinking about it. But maybe that is how you are politically inclined, so it would seem natural to assume that luminaries of the Labour Party are constitutionally incapable of doing any wrong, and thus the law of the land shouldn't necessarily apply to them. Sam, the law is the law. It applies to Peter Hain as well.

[Frank Leader]

Just as long as Gordon Brown doesn't make it a excuse for State Funding of politcal parties.