Mayoral campaign cash call snubbed and faces misuse of parliamentary staff claim

Only eight people have donated – and Skwawkbox was not credited by ‘MSM’ for its exclusive on misuse of staff

A crowdfund set up last November by Labour’s candidate for West Midlands mayor Liam Byrne to help fund his mayoral campaign has seen only eight people donate, with less than a couple of weeks of the campaign left to run. And in the five months since it was set up, it has raised just £735 of its £5,000 target:

Donors to the co-founder of right-wing pressure group Progress include controversial former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, whose expense claims while a minister were described as ‘near fraudulent’ by a former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

Skwawkbox revealed earlier this month that Byrne had been using publicly-funded parliamentary staff – who should only be used ‘in support of [MPs’] parliamentary duties’ – to run his mayoral campaign, that a former staff member had complained that he owed them thousands of pounds in unpaid wages and that ‘half his team’ had quit.

The Birmingham Mail reported yesterday that a complaint has now been lodged with parliamentary authorities over Byrne’s use of publicly-funded staff on his political campaign. Skwawkbox was not credited for its exclusive on the scandal.

Source: Skwawkbox