Snowmail: much ado in Corfu
Updated on 21 October 2008
A look ahead to tonight's programme.
A bizarre top to the programme tonight, one that seems to touch upon both major political parties in Britain; on the shadowy world of Russian oligarchs; on summer gatherings in Corfu; on a scion of the Rothschild dynasty; and a letter to The Times (owned by Rupert Murdoch, who happens also to have had a yacht in Corfu at the time of this particular development).
In the letter published today, Mr Nathaniel Rothschild made a sensational allegation against his (erstwhile?) friend George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, who was a guest this summer at the Rothschild villa on Corfu.
The allegation is that Mr Osborne and Andrew Feldman, the chief executive of the Tory party, went on board a yacht nearby belonging to Russia's richest man, Oleg Deripaska, "to solicit a donation" to the Tory party.
He further alleges that, since donations from a foreigner would be illegal, Mr Feldman later suggested how such a donation might be "channelled" to get around the fact that Mr Deripaska is a Russian citizen.
Messrs Osborne and Feldman strenuously deny those allegations, saying it is utterly untrue that they solicited any donation or suggested any method by which a donation could be concealed.
Just before lunch, Mr Osborne repeated those denials, but he declined to deny suggestions that he had taken part in any discussions at all about a possible donation.
In a somewhat curious appearance on the steps of his party headquarters, Mr Osborne gave some effusive and less than effusive answers, and refused our man Gary Gibbon's question all together.
All - or more, at any rate - will be revealed at seven. Indeed, we think Mr Osborne is even now considering another statement, perhaps thinking better of his original one. Maybe he'll even appear for an interview. Who knows?
We're also looking at the extraordinary intersection between English class, money and oligarchs... But there are so many more questions too, at seven, on 4.
Lord Mandelson has also been the subject of separate speculation recently concerning his sojourns in Corfu, also staying at the Rothschild villa and visiting Mr Derepaska on his yacht.
And indeed, it does appear that Mr Rothschild is so incensed by the leaking of those tales to the papers that it provoked his epistolary assault today on Mr Osborne.
Legal problems
We have a remarkable insight tonight into the effects of the reorganisation of legal aid (some have called them cuts) on actions in the family courts - particularly those pertaining to children.
In a very rare development, an English judge has broken her silence to declare her mounting concern about injustices that are developing as a result of families representing themselves. It is particularly grievous in the case of children, and adoptions. James Blake has the story.
Economic gloom
So far the economic data that has been published today is gloomy: CBI business trends suggest business confidence at its lowest for 26 years. And the latest house sales figures are down 53 per cent on this time last year.
Abortion amendments shelved
The government has detached the abortion amendments from the embryology bill in order to get the bill through. But in so doing, have they revealed the pact that won them the 42-day vote in the Commons in the summer?
Did the men from the DUP troop into the lobby for the government because of a promise that the legislation offering women abortions in Northern Ireland would be scrapped? The leader of the house, Harriet Harman, is refusing interview requests tonight.
But it sounds very much as if a trade-off has occurred between the interests of women in Northern Ireland (who are still denied the choice to have an abortion) and a handful of men who represent a particular political quadrant.
Barack's campaign break
Barack Obama is off to see his white granny in Hawaii. Am I allowed to say that? Well, perhaps yes, because if you read Dreams From My Father, you realise that this extraordinary woman and her white husband were key players in the adolescent development of the young Obama.
She is apparently ill at 86, and he has suspended his campaign for a couple of days to go and see her. But I suppose the main action today is the fact that a certain class of Republican is rapidly following in Colin Powell's footsteps and endorsing Obama over McCain.
We'll be talking to one of them, US diplomat Kenneth Adelman, at seven. Is it once again the Palin factor? Indeed, is it a question of "Palin into significance"?
