The Tory Party is fighting a by-election in Crewe and Nantwich and showed yesterday that it is ready for power by engaging in computer incompetence that is normally seen as the preserve of our Labour overlords.

A local Tory official accidentally sent several Excel spreadsheets containing details on thousands of voters to radio station Manx Radio, a local newspaper and another media outlet. The information included names, addresses and voting intentions for 8,000 people.

The Information Commissioner's Office is also investigating the blunder.

Obviously a mere 8,000 voter records is not in the same league as Alistair Darling's benchmark loss of 25m child benefit records, but it's good to see Her Majesty's Opposition showing its potential.

A spokesman for the Tory Party also claimed we weren't allowed to report this story because of today's by-election. He promised to send us the "exact wording" on the rules by email. It hasn't arrived yet, so we can only hope he's sent it to the right address. ®

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