Question of the day
By writing a large cheque to the Labour Party can you - in effect - buy yourself a seat in the House Of Lords?
It would be corrupt. It would be illegal and Tony Blair denies it emphatically. But that's not stopped the question being asked by many in the party. They want to know why their party accepted multi-million pound loans from men who were - weeks later - nominated for peerages.
Under election laws introduced by this government, donations have to be made public but loans can be kept secret - not just from the public and standards watchdogs but from the party's own elected treasurer too - who shouted about it from the rooftops yesterday.
The row he caused has led to him getting an apology from the prime minister, a promise that all future loans will be declared and a pledge - long resisted - to try to build a consensus on the state funding of political parties and reform of the Lords.
That may produce real political change - the Tories are more open to these ideas than ever before - or it may prove to be a convenient distraction from the as yet unanswered questions about loans given and peerages offered.
Tony Blair can boast of making many changes to clean up British politics, but he as good as admitted today that it's taken sleaze alegations to convince him to try to finish the job.
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