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In the Blair and Brown years, the irrepressible Derek Draper was one of Westminster’s best known and most colourful characters.

Affectionately known as “Dolly”, he was a cheerful extrovert who loved being at the centre of intrigue and gossip and was prone to boasting about his own importance.

To be fair, he was indeed very much an insider in the New Labour project that catapulted Tony Blair into power in the landslide election victory in 1997.

He was sociable, gregarious and because he worked for and was an ally of Peter Mandelson he was almost a Blairite before Blair.

He was fun, had a cheeky grin and an easy manner, and enjoyed the company and camaraderie of MPs and journalists in Westminster.

He was also very good at his job, colleagues acknowledged, and passionate about Labour winning the 1997 election after 18 years in opposition.

But it was his occasional boasting – and his misfortune in being unwittingly dragged into plotting – that landed him in two embarrassing New Labour scandals.

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The first was when he was caught out bragging about how important and well connected he was. The second was over a link to a plot to smear Tory politicians.

Part of Dolly’s colourful reputation came from the fact that he worked for Mandelson, the “Prince of Darkness”, during Mandy’s ascent from spin doctor to government minister.

Derek Draper arrives back to his home in north London. Damian McBride, a close adviser to the Prime Minister for almost a decade, resigned in disgrace after admitting that he sent "juvenile and inappropriate" emails from his Downing Street account to former spin doctor Draper. 2009
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Draper faced criticism over his infamous quote

That wasn’t Draper’s first job in politics, however.

In fact, he worked for Nick Brown, when “Newcastle Brown” – the Tyneside MP who later became chief whip under four Labour leaders – was a shadow minister.

He went to work for Mandelson when he became the MP for Hartlepool in 1992 and – along with the equally irrepressible Charlie Whelan, Gordon Brown‘s legendary spin doctor – was one of Westminster’s most high-profile insiders.

‘I am intimate with every one of them’

But Draper left Westminster a year before the Blair landslide and became a political lobbyist. And that was when his boasting landed him in trouble.

In 1998, in a scandal that became known as “Lobbygate”, he told an undercover reporter from The Observer how important and influential he was.

“There are 17 people who count in this government… to say I am intimate with every one of them is the understatement of the century,” he said in a memorable quote.

He drew criticism. Even Mandelson said at the time: “He gets above himself. But now he has been cut down to size and I think probably he will learn a very hard lesson from what has happened.”

But he landed in more trouble in 2009 when The Daily Telegraph revealed that Brown’s then spin doctor, Damian McBride, had sent him emails about a plot to smear Tory politicians including David Cameron, George Osborne and Nadine Dorries.

It was reported that Draper, who by now had set up the LabourList website, described the plan as “brilliant” in an email to McBride.

Now spin doctor for the shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry, McBride immediately quit and prime minister Brown was forced to issue a grovelling apology.

A few weeks later, a contrite Draper quit LabourList and said: “I regret ever receiving the infamous email and I regret my stupid, hasty reply. I should have said straight away that the idea was wrong.”

After his career change, training as a psychotherapist, Dolly moved on, although he would still turn up to social events with Labour Party pals, such as the Tribune magazine Christmas party.

His illness has been a terrible shock to all who knew this larger-than-life character who was such amusing and engaging company. Gone, but certainly not forgotten.

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Vote on Trump’s CFTC chair pick could come today, US senator says

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Vote on Trump’s CFTC chair pick could come today, US senator says

Update (Dec. 11 at 7:35 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a Thursday policy announcement from Caroline Pham.

The top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee said the full chamber could vote on US President Donald Trump’s pick to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission “maybe as soon as this afternoon.”

In a prepared statement for a Thursday hearing on CFTC reauthorization, Committee Chair Glenn Thompson said the Senate could vote on Michael Selig’s nomination to chair the agency on Thursday. The potential vote would come just a few weeks after the Agriculture Committee advanced Selig’s nomination to the full chamber, along partisan lines. 

According to the Senate’s calendar of business, a vote on Selig’s nomination did not appear on the schedule for Thursday. The chamber is expected to break for the holidays on Dec. 22, giving lawmakers a limited window to confirm the prospective CFTC chair.

Selig, whom Trump nominated as CFTC chair in November following the withdrawal of his former pick, Brian Quintenz, faced lawmakers in a November hearing. The prospective chair said it was “vitally important that [the CFTC] have a cop on the beat” for addressing crypto regulation and enforcement.

Related: Crypto industry groups weigh in on CFTC’s future after key withdrawal

Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham has been the sole commissioner at the financial regulator for months, following the resignation or departure of every member of its leadership due to their terms expiring. Pham is also expected to leave once the Senate confirms a replacement chair, potentially leaving Selig as the sole member. 

Pham is still pushing for crypto in her final days

Although it’s unclear when Pham may leave the CFTC, the acting chair has continued to push the Trump administration’s agenda on digital assets by advocating for policies that favor the industry and bringing executives in closer.

On Thursday, the acting chair said she planned to withdraw the CFTC’s “outdated” guidance on digital assets, claiming it “penalizes the crypto industry and stifles innovation.”