Goldsmith Aide Breaks Election Law

Sabina Vankova is a lawyer. She is also on the campaign team of Zac Goldsmith, the Tory candidate for next month’s London Mayoral election. And, despite her background, she has just dropped Team Zac in the smelly brown sticky stuff big time, as more of those slightly unfortunate incidents continue to dog the Blue Team in its efforts to keep the City Hall top job after the departure of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

Zac and his pals not doing so well right now

And Ms Vankova was not the only one on the Goldsmith campaign opening mouth and inserting boot last week: Zac’s brother Ben Goldsmith, in lending his support, tried to pursue the now thoroughly discredited idea that Labour challenger Sadiq Khan was in hock to lots of Scary Muslims (tm) on an open Twitter feed. The result was a gaffe so serious that he later deleted it. But you can see it here on Zelo Street.

Ben Goldsmith had become embroiled in a Full And Frank Discussion with cricket writer Dan Norcross, and my good friend Sunny Hundal. Norcross had tweaked Goldsmith’s tail by telling him “you clearly think you know what you mean, but the fact you can't express it coherently must make you concerned”. Ouch! The temptation to avenge his reputation and pull an Islamist smear then became too much for The Great Man.

“It’s not complicated mate”, he told Norcross. “Lefties love Islamists. Because Islamists are kind of like Communists. Got it?” I think we all got it, thanks. That was bad enough, but it merely added to the problems for Team Zac after Ms Vankova let her enthusiasm for Goldsmith’s candidacy spill over into a blatant breach of electoral law, again on an open Twitter feed, and this time, it’s still there three days later.

Voters can cast their ballots in the Mayoral contest early. Ms Vankova had done this. That much is perfectly legal. What is not is to then tell anyone and everyone how you have voted - by publishing an image of your completed ballot paper! To accompany her Tweet “Just voted for @ZacGoldsmith #BackZac2016 @BackZacPress Good luck!” she included a photo of her ballot paper. There it it. Oh dear!

While Labour’s poll lead in the London Mayoral contest appears to be growing, the last thing the Goldsmith camp needs is someone pulling a stupid stunt that involves breaking the law. Ben Goldsmith’s amateurish smear only compounds the impression that his brother’s bid to succeed Bozza is doomed to fail.

Less than a fortnight to go, and it’s not looking good for The Blue Team.