Documents released by the Conservatives show that Lord Ashcroft was not required to make any promises at all about changing his tax status.

Every few days the Lord Ashcroft ‘story’ runs out of steam. And every few days, another alleged smoking gun turns out to be a water-pistol. Despite the media frenzy (and despite The Slog’s own personal view that the Ashcrofts of this world should only enter politics by being elected on a level playing field) the voter is bored stupid by the whole affair.

Curious also is the way that every time New Labour has a problem deciding who’s running the Party, writing the Budget or minding the shop, another ‘development’ is tossed out. None of this is my idea of a development.

Barry Legg (who he?) keeps bashing on about the lies and shadowiness involved, but Barry Legg has an agenda entitled ‘I hate Lord Ashcroft and I had a tiff with the Tories in 2003’.

Nobody likes billionaires buying marginal constituencies. But the Government had its chance to address this in Spring 2009, and funked it. What’s more, as has been pointed out endlessly by the right-wing press, the Unite union floods candidate lists with its mates in order to help New Labour shift quietly back to being Old Labour.

Labour is on a sticky wicket with this nonsense. Just as Ashcroft’s role in the marginals appears to have backfired there, the issue of ‘buying’ votes is one that could very easily explode in Lord Mandelson’s face….no names, no pack-drill squire.

The Knitting Circle has flogged this thing to death: it’s old news,and not a single piece of genuine new-news has emerged since they started peddling it. It’s time they came up with the goods, or stopped launching these weapons of mass distraction.