Labour party

Ed Miliband has now repeated what he said about Lord Fink in the Commons. At the end of his speech, he said: ‘Yesterday Conservative donor Lord Fink challenged me to stand by what I said in the House of Commons, that he was engaged in tax avoidance activities. I do. And believe it or not, now today he confirms it as well as he has just said, and I quote, I didn’t object to his use of the word tax avoidance, because you’re right, tax avoidance, everyone does it. ‘Now David Cameron must explain why he appointed a treasurer of the Conservative party who boasts about engaging in tax avoidance and thinks that it’s something everyone does. Friends, this is the big choice facing our country.

So it looks as though that Ed Miliband has won his battle with Lord Fink. The Tory peer has given an interview to the Evening Standard in which he says he did use ‘vanilla’ tax avoidance measures. He told the newspaper: ‘The expression tax avoidance is so wide that everyone does tax avoidance at some level.’ Fink then says he doesn’t want to sue Miliband for saying that he ‘did ordinary tax avoidance’, but that he ‘took exception to’ the suggestion that he was dodgy and that he had questions to answer. This means that Miliband can quite easily repeat the specific comment he made about Fink in the Commons yesterday, which was this: ‘Let us talk about the difference between the Prime Minister and me.

Nick Robinson had an extraordinary claim (see update, below, for his clarification) in his blog last night that ‘the Labour leader's aides say that he sees [his allegations about Lord Fink] as another Milly Dowler moment’. If Ed Miliband’s aides have really said this, they are exhibiting a crass, disgusting way of looking at politics. I asked his spokesman whether this is true. He said: ‘Ed is not comparing this to a Milly Dowler moment. This is about standing up for what is right, not making comparisons.’ I went back to the spokesman as this was not what Robinson had said. His blog had said that Miliband’s aides see this as a ‘Milly Dowler moment’. The spokesman responded: ‘I am his spokesperson. I am not and neither is Ed.

While Samantha Cameron very rarely airs her political views in public, the same cannot be said for her sister. Emily Sheffield has taken to Twitter to vent about Labour's new pink van for women. Sheffield, who is the deputy editor of Vogue, claims that the van looks like its selling tampons rather than policies. The pink Labour van looks like it's trying to sell me tampons not policies. And that's the nicest thing I can say about it. — Emily Sheffield (@emilysheffield) February 11, 2015 The rest is an angry rant! — Emily Sheffield (@emilysheffield) February 11, 2015 Labour unveiled the ‘Woman to Woman’ van yesterday, which will tour the UK targeting women who did not vote in 2010.

So Ed Miliband really is going to pick one of the bigger battles of his leadership. After Lord Fink demanded that the Labour leader withdraw what he said about the peer at PMQs or to repeat it outside the House of Commons, I've spoken to a Labour source who says: 'These are very serious allegations in the Guardian about Lord Fink, including his complex arrangement to minimise tax. He still has not justified the reason why he's made these arrangements. He should do so. 'David Cameron must explain whether he is happy to have appointed Lord Fink as a treasurer. Then it will be up to the public to judge.' Miliband is going to repeat his allegations outside the Chamber, as soon as he is given the opportunity to do so.

At last, the picture is becoming clearer. We now have a better idea of what the SNP will demand in return for its support to put Ed Miliband in Downing Street. Nicola Sturgeon didn’t use the term ‘red line issue’ but this was the clear message underlying both the broadcast interviews she made this morning and her keynote speech at UCL. We have known for some time that the SNP leadership does not favour a formal coalition with Labour. Rather, it would look for a ‘confidence and supply’ deal, backing Labour’s Budgets and opposing no confidence motions and expecting concessions in return. And now there appear to be two ‘red lines’ - concessions which the SNP would expect from Labour.