Matters of fact...

Commentators saying that Vote Leave broke the law on expenses and that this is not an allegation but a fact (because the Electoral Commission said so and levied fines) might be interested to read in today's Grudina that this 'fact' is actually rather flaky:

Elections watchdog got law wrong on Brexit donations, court rules

It looks a bit technical, but apparently, the judgment turns on the Eklectoral Commission not recongizing that donations might incur expenses: ' “The source of its error is a mistaken assumption that an individual or body which makes a donation to a permitted participant cannot thereby incur referendum expenses...“As a result of this error, the Electoral Commission has interpreted the definition in a way that is inconsistent with both the language and the purpose of the legislation.”'

The Commission still seems to think it was right in substance. Vote Leave argues that:

“Should the Electoral Commission choose not to appeal this judgment, they will be admitting that they gave Vote Leave incorrect advice and they should immediately reconsider the unfair fines they are seeking to impose on us because Vote Leave would not have made the donations that it did had it not been for the commission’s clear advice.

The Graun is reverting to cautious language for now and talks of 'allegations of cheating'. The implications could also affect a commonly-heard argument for the 'illegality' of the 2016 Referendum (always nonsense) on the part of People's Vote. Will they finesse their former views or just let the matter quietly drop?

As one prop weakens, though,another is hewn from the ideological wood:

Tory Brexit faction censured for using public funds for campaigning 

The headline tries to suggest that this is another scandal along the lines of VoteLeave's (now alleged) illegality, but the story itself is pretty weak. The ERG has been censured because moneys it received to campaign for Brexit strayed into illicit party political areas when it criticised the Labour Party for voting against the Withdrawal Bill. I'd like to see that inflated into a case for declaring the 2016 Referendum null and void!