EdStone

[1] The stone was 2.6 metres (8 ft 6 in) tall and featured six election pledges carved into it, together with the Labour logo, and a copy of the signature of the party leader Ed Miliband.

It was much mocked; for example, John Rentoul, a biographer of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, described it as the "most absurd, ugly, embarrassing, childish, silly, patronising, idiotic, insane, ridiculous gimmick I have ever seen".

The purpose of the stone was to illustrate Labour's commitment to its promises, contrasting this with the failure of the Liberal Democrats to keep their pledge made during the 2010 general election campaign to abolish tuition fees.

[13] Dan Hodges reported that while watching Miliband unveil the tablet on television, a Labour press officer "started screaming.

After Labour performed less well than expected, and the Conservatives won a surprise overall majority, the location of the stone became the subject of widespread speculation.

[18] The Conservatives held the seat in which the stone was unveiled, Hastings and Rye, with sitting MP Amber Rudd increasing her majority to 4,796.

"[12] In January 2016 two party officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Bloomberg News that the stone had been destroyed in the weeks following 7 May 2015, putting an end to eight months of speculation about its whereabouts.

It was established that these payments, totalling £7,614, were missing from the party's return and the Electoral Commission launched an investigation which uncovered other undeclared expenses.