A host of new donors to the Boris Johnson campaign to be London mayor are today published on the Electoral Commission website.

The names include Patrick Snowball, former chief executive of Norwich Union, who has given the blond bombshell £8,000. Snowball was in the news this week as he will be leading the Tory proposal to set up a new “Green ISA” scheme.

Others are Jonathan Mervis, Lord Jonathan Marland, Cameron Mackintosh and a group called Elliott Advisers.

Johnson picked up £33,000 of support in January and £47,000 in February, taking his running tally to about £356,000. Still some way off the £1m-plus which his team has been seeking ahead of the May 1 poll.

As for Ken Livingstone, it’s not clear how much he has raised because the donations come via the Labour party and won’t be public until a few weeks after the election. It’s safe to predict that much of his cash will come from the unions. Brian Paddick, the Lib Dem man, has been trailing on the funding stakes.

4.15pm

Resurgent Boris is clearly starting to worry the government.

I’ve just emerged from the main hall at the Labour spring conference in Birmingham where ministers lined up to criticise him. Tessa Jowell, London & Olympics minister, admitted that the mayoral contest is the closest we have seen in nearly a decade.

Hazel Blears, communities secretary, said: “Boris is no joke. He’s a nasty, right-wing elitist, with odious views and criminal friends like Conrad Black.”

Don’t hang back Hazel. Tell us what you really think.

Incidentally I went to a debate of the candidates on Tuesday night and was impressed by both Paddick and Sian Berry from the Greens. One of her ideas is subsidised office space for creative companies in central London, which makes sense. Ken told her he would invite her into his team if he won a third term – although it wasn’t clear how serious he was being.

Why is David Cameron so keen to associate himself with a Jamaican ganster flick? As the Mail points out (scroll to the bottom of the piece), the “reggae anthem” chosen for his conference speech and the new Tory ad campaign has bloody and murderous associations. The tune — “You Can Get it if You Really Want” — is a Jimmy Cliff classic that plays at the beginning and the end of his shoot ‘em-up “The Harder they Come”.

The film’s tagline summarises the plot quite well: “dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail in shanty town”. I seem to remember that Jimmy Cliff — who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a wannabe singer who turns to drug-dealing and mass-murder — goes on a cop-killing rampage to the sound of “”You Can Get it if You Really Want” near the end of the movie. David Cameron may have even watched it as a student while eating jerk-chicken from his favourite Jamaican food-joint in Oxford.

Anyway, if you’re intrigued, this video includes lots of shots from the film. You wonder whether this is the latest twist to the hug-a-hoodie theme. Does Dave want to hug-a-rudie?

A new system of “yellow cards” for ministers who misbehave could be brought in as a half-way house between sacking and inaction, according to the man who advises Gordon Brown on ministerial conduct.The “yellow card” - a reference to the warning system in football - would be used for instances where ministers had breached the guidelines but did not deserve to see their career terminated.

The suggestion was made this morning by Sir Philip Mawer, former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, who is now the prime minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests.

Former ministers including David Blunkett and Peter Mandelson have quit their cabinet posts after revelations in the press.

The yellow card would be “something short of resignation”, Sir Philip told the Public Administration Committee. He said it could insist of a public apology in the House of Commons rather than a period of suspension or a financial fine.

“This would have to be Gordon Brown’s decision,” Sir Philip told the FT after the hearing. “There are serious cases and there are trivial cases, some are de minimus. At the moment it (the punishment) is all or nothing.”

Sir Philip, who is employed by the prime minister as a consultant rather than a civil servant, said his role was to act as a “critical friend” but he said he was not “in the pocket of the prime minister.”

He will issue his first report in June. Ministers will have to publish their financial and business interests and potential conflicts in a new ministerial register to be published at the same time.

This new log will contain more details than the existing MPs register of interests, such as the activities of spouses or close relatives who could potentially benefit from the minister’s actions.

However, Sir Philip said his advice to the prime minister would be for ministers to drop any potential conflicts of interest.

Most politicans entered the House of Commons because of their commitment to public life rather than to enrich themselves, he insisted. But he added: “I haven’t been brought into this job to be someone’s footstool or patsy”.

The House of Commons has been dogged in recent weeks by the resignation of Peter Hain over campaign donations, the sacking of Derek Conway by the Tories and widespread questions over MP expenses.

Paul Flynn, a Labour member of the committee, said: “In the last few months there has been a collapse in confidence in politicans, a more serious one that many MPs would like to acknowledge.”

Breaking news from Press Association….

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has demanded to know why the case of disgraced MP Derek Conway has not been referred to Scotland Yard.

A senior police officer has written to John Lyon, who is responsible for standards in the House of Commons, to ask whether his officers will be brought in.

The move is sure to renew pressure on the MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, who was suspended for 10 days after paying his son for work while he was a full-time university student.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman confirmed that a sernior police officer has written to Mr Lyon on the matter and asked for an explanation if the case is not to be referred.

News of the letter emerged as Sir Ian was questioned by members at a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority today.

The Tory MP has been ordered to return £13,161 of the money he paid his son Freddie and has had his party’s whip withdrawn.

Mr Conway apologised to MPs and said he will not fight the next General Election after the scandal broke last month.

It emerged his son received a salary for parliamentary work despite being a full-time student in Newcastle.

The disclosure provoked calls for politicians to declare whether they claim public funds for employing family members.

MP Sir George Young, chairman of the Commons standards and privileges committee, told the Commons last month that police would not be called in.

A spokesman for the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards said today that the position had not changed.

She declined to comment on whether there had been any correspondence between Mr Lyon and the police.

Here is the revelant bit from the police statement

The MPS has received a number of inquiries about arrangements surrounding
the referral of criminal matters to police by the Parliamentary Commissioner
for Standards.

We would therefore draw attention to paragraph 1.13 of the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards Annual Report 2003/4 which states that ‘where a
complaint is made to the Commissioner alleging criminal conduct, and the
Commissioner considered that the matter should be further investigated by
the police, the Committee would therefore expect him to report the facts to
it with a recommendation that the matter be referred to the police for
further investigation.’
 

Here are some notes from the scene of the latest House of Commons security breach.

- The protesters (Greenpeace?) came in as visitors. The yellow stickers on their jackets give it away. There are up to half a dozen of them. With the help of the security cameras at the visitors entrance, it shouldn’t be hard to find out who let them in. If the Commons pass-holder was aware of what they were up to (and looking at how these people are dressed they were not here for a pleasant meeting with an MP) they are in for a rough ride. Is this criminal?

- The last Sergeant at Arms, who is in charge of security, didn’t have his contract renewed after the last cock-up, when Greenpeace scaled Big Ben tower to protest about Trident nuclear missiles. This is a big test for Jill Pay, who replaced him on January 30. She is the first woman to hold the post and probably the first non-Brigadier. According to one MP who sang her praises to me recently, she is a formidable operator with a strong track record working in the Commons. Let’s see how she copes.

- Commons staff gathering outside are reacting with a mix of bemusement and shock. One said he was pleased to see the flags up there but would like to see another one alongside promoting Margate as an alternative runway to Heathrow. Another person who clearly has more responsibility for dealing with this mess said: “Bloody hell. Just think of the paperwork.”

- According to one of the old hands who works in maintenance, the banner is hanging above the prime minister’s office in the Commons. One doubts whether the prank was that precisely planned. But Greenpeace, if it is Greenpeace, seem to be making a habit of embarrassing the good folk protecting our MPs.

UPDATE: Apologies to Greenpeace: I wrongly assumed they were behind the stunt. The culprits are Plane Stupid.

If initial reaction is any guide, Nick Clegg has just blundered by storming out of the House of Commons with his troops in tow. Ben Brogan brands it a “hissy” while Peter Hoskin at the Spectator Coffee House thinks it is “bizarre behaviour”. They think it is a stunt publicising a “red herring” policy backing a referendum on EU membership that is sure to backfire. I disagree, for three main reasons:

1. It will be covered. Some MPs have been getting a little worried about Mr Clegg’s inability to win media attention. This should do the trick.

2. People may remember it. Unlike a vote on a motion that was always doomed, a defiant protest does stand out. It may be seen as a gimmick in the Westminster village, but it is a guerilla tactic that could play well in the world beyond.

3. The position has legs. Whenever the election comes, most people will have forgotten about minutiae of the parliamentary debate on the Lisbon treaty. The Tories will probably be spending lots of time batting off questions over how they will handle a ratified treaty. The Lib Dem position, for all its gimmickry, does have a life beyond Lisbon: you can always call for a referendum on EU membership.

For those who are unconvinced, there is a fourth point in defence of the Clegg caper. We should never underestimate just how little people know about Lib Dem politics. It is a struggle to get the average Joe to even recognise Mr Clegg. Mercifully few people know there are Lib Dem splits over the referendum on the treaty. Even fewer care.

This means that most people learning of the Lib Dem referendum policy for the first time may judge it on its own merits, rather than seeing it as a tawdry cover for party splits. Hell, if they found out about the walk-out, they may even think the Lib Dems truly believe it.

UPDATE: OK. I give in. My first point proved to be absolutely wrong: the Lib Dems didn’t get much coverage for the parliamentary tantrum. And the coverage they did receive was awful….

Sam Coates over at Red Box has just questioned why Baroness Vadera, the former banker turned minister, wasn’t doing the “heavy lifting” on Northern Rock in the Lords when she “knows more about the subject than anyone else”. Speculating over her role in any and every controversial policy decision is a popular parlour game in Westminster. The question is, can anyone prove she had any role at all?

Over the past few months, people have grumbled to me about her malign influence on everything from banking regulation to the reorganisation of the defence export services organisation. If these critics are to be believed, she stays in the shadows but her influence is unmatched. The problem is, they have almost no evidence to support their claims.

On a fact-finding mission, I recently submitted some freedom of information questions to discover whether she spent any official time as international development minister meeting people about Northern Rock. I asked whether she was present at any meeting about the bank or met Goldman Sachs to discuss the subject. The answer: an unequivocal No.

This does not disprove the theory that she is all-powerful figure with the ear of the prime minister. But it does make you stop and think. Can it be that her influence has been dramatically overplayed?

At least one Labour insider thinks so. He told me her “stock had never been lower”. His theory is that had she truly been a indispensable aide to Mr Brown she would have been given a job much closer to Downing St. The ministerial reshuffle that took her from international development to the department for business was less a promotion, he suggested, and more a sign that some more senior ministers find it difficult to work with her. Most controversial of all, he claimed Baroness Vadera was finding it harder to win face time with Gordon Brown.

It is hard to find the absolute truth because Baroness Vadera rarely gives media interview. But it is certainly worth remembering what the Labour insider said the next time someone moans to you about a policy being shaped in secret by the mighty Baroness. Much to her dismay, she may have had nothing to do with it at all.

We called Goldman Sachs on Wednesday (when the political donation figures came out for the end of 2007)  to ask if the Michael Sherwood who gave the Tories £8,500 in November was the same Michael Sherwood who is European co-chief executive of the ubiquitous US bank. The answer was no.

They’ve called back to admit they were wrong. It was the very same Mr Sherwood, said a spokesman from the bank. But the money was paid for tickets to a Tory event by Mr Sherwood and his wife and should have been recorded as £4,250 each. As a result the banker should not have ended up on the Electoral Commission website, which records donations of  £5,001 and over. (Although the spokesman did not know if he paid for both tickets, in which case the figure should be in the public eye.)

Goldman has been advising the government on its options for a private sale of Northern Rock, although Mr Sherwood was not directly involved in the negotiations. “He is politically non-aligned,” said the bank.

And just in case you missed it in our story last week, another interesting new Tory donor was Hugh Scott-Barrett, finance director of the unsuccessful JC Flower bid for Northern Rock. The former ABN Amro executive gave £33,500 to the Conservatives at about the time Flowers withdrew from its bid talks.

*

Incidentally the spokesman has just come back with a further clarification of the facts. It transpires that the Sherwoods paid £10,000 for the two tickets but £1,500 of this went to the two meals while only the remainder was an actual donation. That seems like an expensive feast by any standards. 

Amid endless controversy over pay and perks, Parliament was about to start cleaning up its act. The first change would have been a move to make MPs declare any family members on their payroll. That was the plan, anyhow. All three parties leaders had expressed their support. But the measure, proposed by the standards and privileges committee - which would have sailed through the Commons and become law by early April - has run into sand.

It emerged today that the committee has taken legal advice that exposure of these names would breach employment law. What will happen is that the disclosures will instead be voluntary on the register of members’ interests. Any shift to an compulsory system will have to wait until secretaries’ and researchers’ contracts are changed to get around this. So much for the big spring clean.

One of the most curious aspects of the Northern Rock debacle is the government’s insistence that the bank’s loan book is fundamentally solid and that market conditions will soon improve. How can they be so very sure?

Yesterday, Alistair Darling continued to say that: “The Financial Services Authority continue to assure me the bank is solvent. It believes that Northern Rock’s mortgage book is of good quality.” Just now, at the monthly 10 Downing Street press conference, Darling repeated his claim that “these are good assets”.

There is an old cliche in financial markets that you only find out who is wearing no swimming costume when the tide goes out. In the case of Northern Rock, that is the housing market, where prices have teetered slightly in the last few months. If they fall further and faster - as likely a scenario as any other given that banks are now reining in their lending - we may find out whether the assumptions about the Rock mortgage book are realistic or not.

Bear in mind that the group was seizing unprecedented market share just as house prices rushed towards their peak. Furthermore, it specialised in “generous” products including a 130 per cent loan-to-value mortgage which is apparently still on offer.

In the coming months, the nationalised Rock will be expected to run down its mortgage book, probably by upping its interest rates; a move which will encourage customers to shop around for different loans when their current ones expire. Other lenders may be happy to take on some of the Rock’s customers. ie, the more credit-worthy ones. With banks increasingly risk-averse - for obvious reasons - they may not, however, want to take on the Rock’s more questionable borrowers. In other words, the rump of the mortgage book, retained by the government, is likely to contain the more problematic loans.

At today’s presser (it’s still going on as I write) Mr Darling insisted that the Rock’s position would look better “when the housing market comes back”. Most commentators thought that house prices would be on the rise pretty soon, he suggested.

“Every penny is secured against Northern Rock’s assets…We are acquiring its liabilities and also its assets.”

Asked by the FT whether the government still expected to make a “profit” from the deal, Gordon Brown said it was “entirely possible” as the value of the Rock’s mortgage book improved.

Unfortunately for the pair, it’s also easy to envisage a scenario where the housing market does not - as the chancellor puts it - “come back” for several years. If prices fall further, the mortgages in question may look increasingly less attractive.

Last time I spoke to Matthew Oakeshott, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, he said he was writing to the Financial Services Authority. (The FSA had just warned that there could be up to 2m high-risk mortgages written in the last year or two).

Lord Oakeshott wanted to know how many of these risky mortgages were provided by Northern Rock. I’d be surprised if the FSA comes back with an answer. But it’s safe to say: a large proportion.

Plenty of controversy this week about the Mosquito, a device used by irate shopkeepers to scare off loitering youths. The product, which has been sold in the thousands, emits an annoying sound which can only be heard by the under-20s. Liberty, the human rights group, is hoping to launch a legal campaign against its use.

There is an alternative, says the Local Government Association. It is called the "Manilow Method" and involves landlords playing naff music to deter teenagers.

Their top 20 suggestions:

1. Release Me - Engelbert Humperdinck
2. Unchained Melody - Robson and Jerome
3. (I’ve had) The Time of My Life - Bill Medley
4. Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus
5. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
6. Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen - Neil Sedaka
7. (Everything I Do) I Do It for You - Bryan Adams
8. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Gene Pitney
9. How Am I Supposed to Live Without You - Michael Bolton (pictured bottom left)

10. (They Long to Be) Close to You - The Carpenters
11. There’s No one Quite Like Grandma - St Winifred’s School Choir
12. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers
13. Diamond Lights - Glenn and Chris
14. The Power of Love - Jennifer Rush
15. Hello - Lionel Richie
16. Things Can Only Get Better - D:Ream (below)
17. Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
18. Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You - Glenn Medeiros
19. Mistletoe and Wine - Cliff Richard
20. I’ve Got A Crush On You - Des O’Connor