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The BBC is entitled to interview whom it chooses.



So if it wishes to give a platform to Arron Banks that is within its right.



Though we should step back and ask why Banks (pictured) was granted airtime on the BBC’s premier current affairs programme.



He was there because he has money which may or may not be his own and which he may or may not have spent legally.



What he shows is how our politics remains influenced by, and therefore potentially corrupted by, those with the deepest pockets.



If Banks did not have a cheque book he would not be the object of such attention.

(Image: PA)





He would not have been able to barge his way onto the political stage, he would not have been able to fund political parties and he would not have been able to bankroll a referendum campaign organisation .



Setting aside for the moment his unpleasant character, his divisiveness and his controversial business practices (all of which merit further inspection) should we not be concerned that our public discourse and our democracy remain at the mercy of a wealthy few?

Depending on which news outlet you trust we are close to a deal on Brexit , a deal has been done, there is a 50-50 chance of a deal or we are as far a way from a deal as ever.



As the deadline looms the tempo of the negotiations was always going to beat a little quicker.



Olly Robbins, the PM’s Brexit adviser, is ready to travel to Brussels this week to nail down an agreement which would be signed off at a special EU summit at the end of this month, provisionally on November 22.



The Telegraph reports that Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has privately demanded the right for the UK to pull out of the Irish backstop after just three months.



There is no way you can see this flying with the EU.



And any briefings at this stage must come a health warning.



The players involved all want insurance policies whether it is Raab trying to show the Brexiteers that he did his best or Downing Street wanting to say ‘look, this is what you could have had.’

(Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Philip Hammond appears before the Treasury select committee this afternoon to be quizzed about the Budget.



His “little extras” line has rightly come back to haunt him, not least because it comes as a Labour analysis shows education funding has been cut by £1.5bn since 2015.



Education Secretary Damian Hinds has kindly helped Labour’s case with an interview in the Daily Mail today in which he says education needs billions of pounds more.



The Chancellor’s flippant choice of words is a gift which Jeremy Corbyn should have made more of at last week's PMQs.



Wouldn’t the police also like a little extra to replace the number of officers cut since 2010?



Wouldn’t it be nice if local government had a little extra to fund youth services and home care?



Perhaps the Labour MPs on the Treasury committee will be more successful in exploiting this tin-eared gaffe.



Today's agenda:



2.30pm – James Brokenshire takes Housing, Communities and Local Government questions.



3.30pm approx – General debate in the Commons on the Dame Laura Cox report on bullying and harassment in Parliament.



4pm – Public Accounts Committee hears from Jon Thompson of HM Revenue & Customs on Brexit and border controls.



4.30pm – Philip Hammond is grilled by the Treasury select committee on the Budget.



What I am reading:



Peter Oborne on why Arron Banks must be investigated



Ros Wynne-Jones on the East Kilbride workers who refused to allow arms to be sent to the Pinochet regime



What I am listening to:



Our latest Ayes to the Left podcast is a Budget special . I’m joined by Kevin Maguire and Dan Bloom to discuss Hammond’s statement and why austerity is not coming to end