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BBC: Hague knew about Ashcroft tax status in 2000 – 8 in the morning, March 18th

8am

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

* BBC alleges William Hague knew about Lord Ashcroft’s tax status in 2000, much earlier than previously claimed.

* After another day of Tory attacks on Charlie Whelan, the Guardian plays down his “informal” role, saying “it is away from No 10 where his presence is felt most.”

* Evoking the pager system introduced by New Labour in the mid-nineties, Conservative candidates will be kepy on message with new iPhone and BlackBerry applications.

* Tensions between speaker John Bercow and Conservative MPs escalate.

* The Fabians’ Stuart White questions Labour activists’ confidence in the government’s policy on retention of DNA samples.

* George Osborne risks repeating John Smith’s mistakes of 1992 in next week’s budget, argues the Times’ Anatole Kaletsky.

* Nadine Dorries is involved in a plot to damage Esther Rantzen’s election campaign in Luton South, reports the Telegraph.

* The Conservatives drop a point in the latest YouGov poll, bringing the gap with Labour to four percent.

Alex is the founder and CEO of The Cares Family. He was editor and first director of LabourList in 2009-2010, during which time he established the site as the number one Labour blog, and later an aide to Ed Miliband.

View all articles by Alex Smith
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