Just back from the Table Office where I handed in a question for this Thursday (11 March).

That’s when questions come up for the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission. It has a miniscule slot in the Commons agenda. So the chances of being called are remote.

I want the Electoral Commission to be given greater powers to compel people to co-operate with it and to summon them for interview, if needs be.

Last week the Commission announced the outcome of its investigation into donations to the Conservative Party from Bearwood Corporate Services Limited.

The story was spun as a great Conservative victory, demonstrating it is squeaky clean.

I don’t think so.

Look again at the small print of what the Commission said:

“The Commission’s current powers are limited, notably that it does not currently have the power to require anyone to attend an interview, and only has the power to require the provision of documents from a party and its officers, but not from reported donors or others. Within the limits of its current powers, the Commission conducted a thorough investigation. It obtained and considered a large volume of documents, including a substantial quantity of internal documents provided by the Conservative Party.”

It went on: “The Commission asked various officers and staff within the (Conservative) party to attend interviews on a voluntary basis, but these requests were not agreed to.”

That’s not good enough. What on earth have the Conservatives got to hide?