Oligarchs, Osborne and a yacht

And just for added spice, Peter Mandelson is thrown into the mix.

This has all erupted today - in a letter to the Times from Nathaniel Rothschild. The letter alleges that George Osborne and a senior Conservative party fundraiser, Andrew Feldman, met with Oleg Deripaska - a Russian oligarch, and that the possibility of a £50,000 donation to the Conservative party was discussed.

This is a problem as it is illegal for political parties to take donations from non-UK citizens. George Osborne has today made a statement, "A very specific allegation has been made that we solicited a donation from Mr Deripaska and I want to make it absolutely clear that we neither asked for money nor did we receive money."



So what does Mandelson have to do with it?

A few weeks ago, there was some media interest in Mandelson accepting the hospitality of Deripaska on his yacht in Corfu. This was leaked to the press and there was a suggestion of a conflict of interest given Mandelson's role as EU trade commissioner.

What has also been doing the rounds is that Mandelson "dripped pure poison" to a senior member of the shadow cabinet about Gordon Brown. While Mandelson was EU trade commissioner, the papers treated it as interesting tittle-tattle. Only with his dramatic return to the cabinet and rapprochement with Brown did this then become newsworthy.

Nathaniel Rothschild has now written his very angry letter to the Times suggesting the paper concentrate on Osborne's activities rather than the paper's 'trivial obsession' with Mr Mandelson. It appears as though Rothschild is unhappy and believes that Osborne was responsible for the stories about Peter Mandelson.

So currently, Osborne is claiming one thing and Rothschild claiming another. I can see the lawyers doing well out of this if it carries on this way.


Perhaps Osborne should have joined Dave on his bucket and spade holiday in Cornwall?