Flattery will get you...

You might think one of the only politicians to be singled out in the WikiLeaks papers yesterday would be perturbed, but not Alan Duncan.

Dunky, Minister for International Development, was thrilled by the fact that our friends across the water had shown such an interest.

He was out of the country on official business yesterday, but a close friend of his told Lobbydog: “Alan thought it was all rather flattering. All this shows is that Washington thought he knew a lot about the Middle East and that he knows a lot about Government.

“It also indicates that the Americans were pretty sure that the Tories were going to win the election back in January. Alan thinks the resurrection of the William Hague stuff is nonsense.”

The “Hague stuff” alludes to the fact that the Americans seemed to show a particular interest in Duncan’s relationship with the then shadow foreign secretary – with whom he had once shared a flat.

All rather trivial really, but interesting to know the kind of information the Americans like to be armed with when they go into negotiations.

Independent thought

The Independent Network (IN) - the association that guides parliamentary candidates without party affiliations – has launched its own blog.

With the expenses scandal fresh in people’s minds as we come to the election, independents may feature in quite a big way.

There are already noises that independent candidates will stand against dozens of MPs including Alan Duncan, Keith Vaz, Geoff Hoon and even Alistair Darling.

Martin Bell, one of the IN’s chiefs, has said there are some 200 MPs who are “unfit for purpose”.

As it’s not a party IN has no policies – it’s up to the individual candidate to decide what to think.

But the organisation seeks to give candidates some legitimacy. To become registered with IN you need to undergo certain background checks and up hold certain principles which are laid out on their blog.

There is talk that at least one of the three main parties, the Lib Dems, will stand aside for independent candidates where they are challenging a big name.

Dunky settles into new job...

There was an interesting debate on prisoner release this morning related to the Al Megrahi (left) and Ronnie Biggs cases.

Nick Palmer MP was trying to get to grips with the question of when prisoners should be released on compassionate grounds and when they shouldn’t.

He reckoned it should never be down to a politician to decide – which given the manoeuvring around the Lockerbie bomber’s case feels like a sensible suggestion.

The SNP were there and a justice minister. But it seems as though Alan Duncan, the newish shadow prisons minister, found something more interesting to do.

He moseyed on down to Milbank for a slot on The Daily Politics, leaving David Burrows to fill in.

Vaz and Duncan find common ground

Keith Vaz and Alan Duncan would probably argue they have little in common. But now they have one thing.

Former hack and anti-sleaze man Martin Bell is hunting for candidates to stand against the MPs in 2010.

Both MPs did not come out well of the expenses scandal.

Mr Bell, who stood against Neil Hamilton and became Independent MP for Tatton, told the Leicester Mercury: "I think it could work, we just need to find the right candidates."

He has already got two local people lined up apparently.

One MP is happy today

Believe it or not there is one MP who was positively beaming after getting his letter from Sir Thomas Legg today.

Tory Alan Duncan was told that he needed only to pay back £218 for his gardening expenses – the member for Melton has already paid back £4,700.

Theoretically he could re-claim £4,482 – though he won’t of course, because it would be political suicide.

Duncan went on to get sacked from his shadow cabinet position after getting caught on a secret film saying MPs were being treated “like sh*t” over expenses.

By the sounds of it many other MPs who received letters today would now agree with him.

'Don't Panic' strike politics again

Don’t Panic – the activists behind the Alan Duncan and Anthony Steen videos and the Jacqui Smith plaque – will strike again this afternoon.

This time they are hitting out at the return of Lords Truscott and Taylor – who became embroiled in the cash for peers scandal earlier this year.

The group will plant this spoof Foxton’s estate agent sign – minus the redaction – somewhere in Westminster.

Duncan hits back at stars

Alan Duncan lashed out at the celebs who criticised his party for their connection to the Polish Law and Justice Party.

Stephen Fry and friends accused the poles of being gay-haters. Duncan, who lives with his partner James Dunseath, said:

“It’s just absurd and misleading of these people to suggest that our grouping in the European Parliament in any way endorses or encourages these views.

“These celebrities should really have known better than to make such stark accusations – and I rather resent this attempt to attach guilt to us in the way they have.

“What matters is a grouping that is good for Europe and helps British interests in Europe.”

One last hurrah for Duncan

Pint sized Tory Alan Duncan will have one last hurrah as shadow leader of the House on Monday.

As we all remember, Duncan was demoted recently after being caught on film bitching about how MPs were being treated in the wake of the expenses crisis.

But the listings show a fringe meeting sponsored by The Guardian - entitled How can we fix politics: What a Cameron Government must do - in which Alan Duncan, shadow leader of the House of Commons is apparently appearing.

Good old Grauniad.

Labour MP tries to capitalise on Duncan

Alan Duncan’s neighbouring Labour MP Andy Reed wrote a righteous blog-post earlier on how the former Tory front-bencher got “what he deserved” by being sacked.

He wrote: “Telling a reporter that MPs are living on rations was a crass and stupid thing to say. It does not represent the views of any Labour MPs I know.”

Maybe other Labour MPs don’t like speaking to him much.

Many I’ve spoken to, while they might not like the way Duncan phrased it, did sympathise with the idea that they had been mistreated and smeared during the expenses scandal.

A colleague pointed out that this was the same same Andy Reed who, post-scandal, asked the “court of public opinion” to decide whether he should claim for a new boiler in his Westminster flat after his previous one reached its sell-by date.

Cheap publicity.

Tories feared Duncan would lose them votes

It seems the clamour for Duncan to go among Tory MPs was greater than Lobbydog imagined.

I'd spoken to two or three Conservatives who had said they had raised “frustrations” about his continued presence in the shadow cabinet.

The MPs were beginning to feel Duncan was losing them votes.

Cameron obviously agreed – but enough not to do away totally with Duncan, the Melton MP will remain as shadow prisons minister.

It's a gritty new role which I'm not sure will suit him - it'll mean him having to put a bit of back into it.

Meanwhile the old incumbent of that position Edward Garnier is promoted to shadow Attorney General.

More from him later.

Frustration with Duncan

Lobbydog hears a number of Tory MPs have received letters from Conservative constituents saying they won’t vote for the party while Alan Duncan remains on the front bench.

As far as I know it’s not sack loads of mail, but the development could still be interesting.

So far any pressure there has been for him to go in the wake of the ‘rationsgate’ affair, the ‘bimbogate’ affair and his expenses generally, has come from the grass roots.

ConservativeHome has shown the MP’s popularity plummet in recent months – he’s currently the least popular member of the shadow Government.

Cameron has given a stay of execution for now. There are even rumours that Duncan, shadow leader of the House, may do a special question and answer session on expenses at this year’s conference in an attempt redeem himself.

But if there is a clamour among other Tory MPs warning that Mr Duncan is losing them all votes then Cameron may feel obliged to act.

Alternatively, if the question and answer session goes horrifically badly – and most of Duncan’s colleagues I’ve spoken to fear it might – then his luck may just have run out.

Don't Panic

There has been a whiff of bitterness from some MPs that the group Don’t Panic – who duped Alan Duncan – covertly made their film after being invited into Parliament.

It is though they didn’t play fair or in a gentlemanly way, the voices say, and abused the trust of Mr Duncan.

Schmaltz. Lobbydog has grown rather fond of the team at Don’t Panic.

I was chatting with the group’s director Joe Wade who said neither he nor editor Heydon Prowse had any regrets about making the Duncan film - which can be seen on their website – or its consequences for the Melton MP.

“We make the films and what happens after that is really out of our hands. If it happened that he ended up getting sacked then so be it,” he said.

The group is a marketing agency which runs campaigns for charities and private companies, but also campaigns itself through a magazine and website.

“If you are in a position like Mr Duncan’s then you deserve to be scrutinised – in this case the film’s editor Heydon Prowse was showing the audience how different an MP’s views and life are from their own,” said Wade.

“We didn’t put words in his mouth. Everything he said, he said for himself in his own words.”

Alan Duncan secret film

The people at Don’t Panic – who brought us that film of the naked picnic at Anthony Steen’s mansion - have done it again.

Here is a video shot secretly of a visit to the House of Commons – Alan Duncan and Nigel Evans are the unwitting stars.

Well worth a look.

Making a profit out of expenses isn't wrong

“There seems to be an assumption on the part of many that it is definitely wrong – and I have to say it’s a very difficult, if you like, moral issue with which to wrestle.

“I don’t find it easy to conclude one way or another whether it is morally wrong. Certainly, in the context of what I’ve tried to explain are the origins of this, I think it is difficult to conclude that it is wrong.”

That’s what Alan Duncan said when asked at the expenses inquiry if it was wrong for MPs to make a profit from selling taxpayer funded houses.

Mr Duncan previously explained that the system of allowances had originally been set up as a pay supplement for MPs.

He added that MPs had therefore entered into arrangements as part of an “overall package” which only now did they understand was “totally discredited”.

Duncan obviously doesn’t wrestle with moral issues that often if he finds this one a toughie.

There were five people in the audience!

Five! And at least three of those were hacks. I've seen more people at adjournment debates about badgers.

The walls of Emmanuel Hall, the venue for the first hearing of the MPs’ Expenses Inquiry, echoed as Alan Duncan spoke to a room with 200 empty seats.

After all the fuss about expenses, the level of publicity this meeting got was pathetic.

And I haven't even got to what Duncan said yet. Watch this space...

Expenses inquiry

It is a little publicised fact that the inquiry into MPs' expenses starts today.

So much for transparency and public engagement – they should’ve been shouting about today's hearing of Christopher Kelly's committee from the roof tops.

The hall which has been booked is apparently very large, let's hope it’s not too late to fill it.

The hearing starts at 10am at the Emmanuel Centre, in Marsham Street, Westminster.

Today is important because we'll get an idea of just how penetrating and just how determined this inquiry is really going to be.

Harriet Harman and Alan Duncan are among those giving evidence.

Tory Chief Whip has a dig at shadow cabinet member?

It sounded like it today after Patrick McLoughlin found himself in an awkward position.

Last week David Cameron tasked the West Derbyshire MP to chair the Tory’s review committee – which will judge whether any Conservative MPs have put in excessive expenses.

But after details of McLoughlin’s allowances emerged in The Daily Telegraph yesterday he’ll now have his own claims reviewed by that very committee.

His allowances were by no means the worst, but he did receive thousands of pounds for maintenance and repair on his Derbyshire home over four years.

Defending himself today he told Lobbydog: “You need to find a balance with these things – I didn’t claim for gardening, I see that some people claimed for that, but I didn’t.”

It could of course be a swipe at fellow Derbyshire MP Margaret Beckett who famously tried to claim for plant pots and a pergola.

But far more profligate was pint-sized shadow leader of the house Alan Duncan – who “volunteered” to pay back some £5,000 in gardening costs last week.

The Chief Whip will be hoping Duncan doesn't add him to his hit list.

Tories target counties

Look at where the shadow cabinet is going to launch the Tory local election campaign today and you’ll see some of the authorities at which the party believes it can make the greatest gains.

It’s no secret they’re targeting the midlands counties like Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, where Labour councils are scared the Government’s unpopularity might see them unseated.

Liam Fox is in Devon, Michael Gove is in North Yorkshire, Alan Duncan is in Essex, Chris Grayling is in Lancashire, Francis Maude is in Derbyshire and Theresa May is in Notts.

Meanwhile George Osborne is in Somerset, Eric Pickles is in Warwickshire, Grant Schapps is in East Sussex and Caroline Spelman will go with David Cameron to Tynemouth.

The Tamils are still there, persistent blighters.

There’s only a small hardcore group left but it has been three days now.

Last night their mesmeric chanting was starting to send me off to sleep at the end of the day.

Even if they didn’t achieve their goal, at least they gave some company to the other 24/7 protest that’s on Parliament Square.

You know, the anti-war one – it includes that woman who harassed Alan Duncan and screams through a loud-hailer that we’re all baby killers.

Clarke plotting against Cameron?

Harriet Harman seems to feel a little left out of all the leadership speculation going on about Labour.

To make up for it she directly accused Ken Clarke of plotting against David Cameron yesterday in the Commons.

Speaking to Alan Duncan she said: "He mentioned a number of cabinet ministers.

"But I think the manoeuvring on which he ought to be focusing is the manoeuvring of the shadow shadow chancellor against the leader of the opposition.

"I think that it is a case of hush puppies on the leader of the opposition's lawn."

Even if Clarke is an operator, it was fairly blatant sh*t-stirring.

Made for an interesting watch though. Harman and Duncan’s little clashes are turning out to be quite good game.