The “loans for peerages” scandal in the UK looks like it is gathering momentum. Guido Fawkes is following the story closely. There are occasionally ads on Guido’s site that are probably not safe for work, so the most important thing to know is that the Metropolitan police Serious Crimes Unit has confirmed that it will investigate whether there has been a breach of the Honours (Prevention of Abuse) Act 1925, which provided that “If any person accepts, obtains or agrees to accept or obtain from any person, for himself or for any other person, or for any purpose, any gift, money or valuable consideration as an inducement or reward for procuring or assisting or endeavouring to procure the grant of a dignity or title of honour to any person or otherwise in connection with such a grant, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.” From what has been reported it seems that 80 percent of donations to the Labour party have come from people who have received honors and that every donor of more than GBP1 million has received a knighthood or a peerage. There seems, to my untrained eye, to be a case to answer. There are also interesting questions surrounding the government’s relationship with a firm called Capita that make the allegations about the administration and Halliburton look like small beer. I suspect this whole affair will have little effect on the polls–the British public regards all politicians as sleazy and corrupt at the moment–but it will require a great deal of attention from the senior party leadership. As an ally, Mr. Blair may well be seriously weakened by this.