Party girl Oona King needs money

A nightclub full of politicians, and it's a hundred quid to get in. Could it be the worst night out in the capital's history?

Former London mayoral hopeful and recently ennobled Baroness (Oona) King of Bow is hoping not. If the invitation is to be believed, her forthcoming fundraiser at London's Ministry of Sound is all that is keeping the ermine-snatching bailiffs from the door.

"It's a fundraising dinner, and if I'm lucky it will prevent me being kicked out of the House of Lords on bankruptcy charges (just when I'd started to get used to the baroness thing)," reads the letter.

"Unfortunately democracy costs a fortune, and I still owe substantial sums from last year's Labour London mayoral selection campaign."

Baroness King's campaign to beat Ken Livingstone for the Labour nomination ended unsuccessfully almost a year ago, but left the former Bethnal Green and Bow MP tens of thousands of pounds in debt. She hopes the fundraiser will raise the money to pay it off.

"I know how to party," she says in the invitation. "This will be the most entertaining fundraiser you've ever been to."