So now we have and the letter he sent to David Abrahams (below). We now have confirmed that a second senior Labour official knew about secret donations to Labour.
However, questions still remain:
• How long did he know for?
• Why did he apparently tell no-one else - either the authorities or anyone in his party?
• And why did it take him so long to get around to contacting the man behind those secret donations with - we're told - the intention of halting the payments?
Labour's chief fundraiser's answer, it would seem, is that his eye was on the future and he believed that his then boss - the general secretary of the party who had to resign - had taken care of the past. It is now clear that that was not the case.
Unlike the alleged sale of cash for honours there appears to be little doubt in this case that the law has been broken. The prime minister has himself said as much. All that remains to be seen is whether the Electoral Commission will actually propose a prosecution, whether the police will set up their own inquiry and how many other people will be revealed as knowing about this scandal.
Words of condemnation, a swift resignation, and an internal inquiry have not halted the damage which only has the potential to grow.
Well well well. A second senior Labour Party official knew about the secret donations by David Abrahams. Jon Mendelsohn - who was appointed by Gordon Brown to raise funds for him - was told about the arrangement last month by Peter Watt - the man who resigned as Labour's General Secretary a few days ago.
Mr Mendelsohn will, I'm told, issue a statement today in which he will claim that he was told the arrangement was a long-standing practice and was acceptable to the Electoral Commission. I am told that Mr Mendelsohn was uncomfortable with this arrangement and asked his office to arrange a meeting with Mr Abrahams to put the donations "on a proper basis".
We now know from Mr Abrahams that he received a handwritten letter from Mr Mendelsohn which began "Dear David" and ended, "with warmest regards, yours Jon" suggesting that the two should meet.
This version of events is clearly designed to cast Mr Mendelsohn as the innocent party. His only fault, according to this account, would appear to be that he failed to challenge his General Secretary and to tell members of Labour's NEC and his party leader of his concerns. The date on the letter is the only thing we know that casts some doubt on this. According to Mr Abrahams it was written on Saturday - that's the day after the Mail on Sunday contacted him and the party with the allegation that Labour had taken secret donations.
HARRIET HARMAN CORRECTION:
I was called with this story moments before going on air with it on the Today programme. In my rush I stated incorrectly that Harriet Harman had received funds from a Janet who now says she's a Tory voter. Ms Harman was, in fact, funded by the other Janet - Janet Kidd, who has not spoken at all since she was revealed as an intermediary for Mr Abrahams. I corrected myself on air but wanted to make sure that this slip caused by too little sleep and too much adrenalin was not repeated.
The nub of my point remains, however. Harriet Harman has accepted that her campaign may have asked Janet Kidd for a donation after seeing her name on the list of Labour's donors. If that call was made what did Janet Kidd reply given that she was not, in truth, a Labour donor but was merely a front for David Abrahams?
