Ellie Reeves has ‘updated’ the Commons on rule changes Labour is pursuing in the ongoing freebiegate scandal. Reeves blames the Tories for an anodyne discrepancy between ministerial declarations and MP declarations…
Reeves says the government will close Tories’ “freebie loophole” with a new version of the register of ministers’ gifts and hospitality – to function on a “broadly equivalent” basis to the MP register. The ministerial register is only different in that the value of gifts is not declared and it is published every quarter as opposed to every fortnight. Altering that system does nothing to address Labour’s rank hypocrisy over months of freebies revelations…
Seeing as the Tories managed to get an Urgent Question in Shadow Paymaster General John Glen asked Reeves for a few clarifications, including:
- Will ministers be banned from taking tickets to the Oasis 25 tour?
- What role did Downing Street play in the VIP escort further to the free tickets for Taylor Swift from Universal Music?
- Have all the political staff in the PM’s parliamentary office correctly declared their financial interests and hospitality?
- Why do ministers refuse in PQs to say when the new ministerial transparency platform will go live?
- Will the PM recuse himself from the Football Governance Bill after taking a donation in kind of £100,000 a year from Arsenal Football Club?
- Where is Labour’s new ethics and integrity commission?
- What discussions did Sue Gray have with Lord Alli on ministerial appointments and public appointments?
- Will ministers place in the library all the documents relating to Lord Alli’s operational integrity?
Reeves launched on the Tories in response and said she’d “take no lectures” as Labour backbenchers are rolled out to list historic Tory freebie-taking. Pressed on Swiftgate, Reeves stuck to the line that the top-level security motorcade was an “operational matter” for the police, despite the fact that the Attorney General, Mayor of London, Sue Gray, and the Home Secretary all personally got involved in lobbying the Met. Labour’s lines on the latest freebiegate scandal are going as well as all the last ones…
The day after Tory donors enjoyed a slightly muted Summer party at the Hurlingham Club in London, the Electoral Commission has just released the party donation figures for the second week of the election. It’s not pretty…
Reform got £742,000. The Tories only managed to bag £292,000 compared to Labour’s whopping £4.38 million. And that’s before the gaffe-train really started rolling…
Sir Keir’s prawn cocktail offensive is paying off. In the latest donation statistics, for Q4 of 2022, Labour out-raised the Conservatives, bringing in a stonking £5,054,462 of private donations – the Conservatives raised £4,744,114. It gets worse for the Tories when public funds are taken into the equation: they’re on £4,858,373 in total. Labour raked in £7,220,437.
Labour’s boon came in large part from billionaire Lord Sainsbury, who was their largest donor with £2,000,000. Notorious eco-fanatic and green tycoon Dale Vince’s ecotricity also contributed £500,000. Of course, the unions also chipped in their fair share. They coughed up £1,028,000.
Last year it was reported that Boris smuggled £27,000 in high-end Daylesford Organic takeaways into Downing Street, funded by business woman Baroness Bamford. Boris has clearly made the most of this relationship, as new publications of members’ interests reveal he’s also got a free stay, worth £10,000, out of it in the month after he, Carrie and the two young ones left No. 10. Keep red wine away from the sofa…
With the £24,000 Lady Bamford gave towards Boris’s boisterous wedding bash in August, it brings the sum to £61,000.
The Bamfords’ donations don’t stop there. Guido notes new leadership donation declarations from Liz Truss show JCB – whose chairman is Lady Bamford’s husband – gave £8,825 to her campaign. Other newly declared donors also include £16,500 from Big Bang Films, £50,000 from Graham Edwards and £5000 from Nigel Vinson. Rishi too found another £25,000 down the back of the sofa – £5000 from Henry Davis and £20,000 from Manhad Narula.
Meanwhile Chris Pincher – remember him? – registered £400 from The Critic, where he ironically used to write wine reviews, before quaffing “far too much of the stuff” at the Carlton Club.
The latest register of interests also sees Sir Keir Starmer registering a £350 donation of band merchandise, including original artwork, from the group Orange Juice after seeing them at the Roundhouse in Camden this summer. Their song, “What Presence?!”, is often what focus groups say about the Labour leader…
Last Wednesday Labour was furious at the Tories for ‘offering access’ to the next chancellor ahead of the forthcoming party conference. Responding to the report in The Guardian that donors can pay £3,000 to meet Kwasi Kwarteng, Labour MP Jon Trickett accused the Tories of putting democracy up for sale:
The Tories are offering businesses access to Government Ministers for £3k a pop.
— Jon Trickett MP (@jon_trickett) August 24, 2022
Democracy shouldn’t be for sale. We need big corporate money out of politics 👇https://t.co/iz42pdi6Er
Alastair Campbell commented, “same old Tories same old sleaze.” Transparency International said the move “reinforces public concerns that cash buys privileged access and influence in our democracy.”
Guido was astonished, therefore, to see Sir Keir’s own St. Pancras Labour branch simultaneously launching a fundraising auction to raise cash for “our General Election campaign and [get] Keir into Number 10.” One of the prizes? Tea for two with Shadow Cabinet member Jenny Chapman…
Admittedly the prize of tea with one of Starmer’s most senior colleagues stands head and shoulders above some of the other items up for auction, including a signed copy of Sir Keir’s 2021 conference speech that even his own team admitted droned on for far too long.
Politicians selling access to wealthy individuals is a practise as old as time, yet Labour continually gets on their high horse about it. £3,000 to meet the Chancellor of the Exchequer at Tory conference is a hell of a steal given Labour charges £5,000 to donors in return for dinners with Shadow Cabinet members…
Labour has hardly shied away from gunning for the Tories on sleaze, not least over Flatgate and Greensill. Leading the charge has been Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who has accused the Conservatives of sleaze no fewer than 31 times on Twitter. It’s awkward, therefore, that four days ago the Commons sleaze commissioner launched an investigation into Reeves for improper registration of donations and other support…
Paragraph 14, of course, reads:
“Members shall fulfil conscientiously the requirements of the House in respect of the registration of interests in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. They shall always be open and frank in drawing attention to any relevant interest in any proceeding of the House or its Committees, and in any communications with Ministers, Members, public officials or public office holders.”
Back in March 2021 Reeves was out and about suggesting the government’s delay in publishing the ministers’ register of interests was over potential “conflicts of interests”. Over to Kathryn Stone…
