Captain Moonlight: Funds from Labour Arty

DEEP and fevered has been speculation about the source of the funds that have allowed Tony Blair to produce glossy leaflets from swanky computerised offices hard by Westminster. Now the Captain can reveal, with ado, The Meeting at Mapledene Road. The Meeting was convened at the Hackney home of Barry Cox, former head of corporate affairs for London Weekend Television, a great friend of Blair - and of John Birt (qv) - and one of those lucky people golden-handcuffed to LWT before the last franchise round with share options, worth in his case around pounds 2m.

Among a dozen or so present were Melvyn Bragg, another LWT shareholder for socialism, and, red Bentley convertible parked outside, Ken Follett, the thriller writer for socialism, the Lord Archer of the left, also worth a bob or two. The purpose of this meeting of the Labour Arty was to raise funds for the Blair campaign. My information is that as much as pounds 100,000 was pledged, but this is disputed. Let us hope that Tony is properly grateful.