Kevin Schofield at the Sun had a fine scoop this morning about the £27,000 in kind given by Tony Blair to David Miliband’s campaign for the Labour leadership.
The revelation will be a small but significant footnote when the history of the contest is written. That is because Tony Blair, while clearly a covert supporter of the older Miliband brother, refused again and again to back him in public. (Andrew Grice at the Independent reported that this was because Miliband thought his former mentor’s support could be a double-edged sword). Now we have physical proof that he was backing David.
Schofield revealed that Miliband has updated his list of donors in recent days, among them entrepreneur Gulam Noon, Blur drummer Dave Rowntree and Mr Blair himself. The information is now on the official register of interests.
The donation in kind was for Jo Gibbons, renowned as an events organiser, to help out on David’s campaign. Gibbons was previously a close aide to Mr Blair, although she has quit several directorships on various Blair entities in recent weeks.
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey