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…
As it is silly season the papers are full of the shocking news that people who give wads of cash to political parties get invited to meet politicians. They may even eat and drink with them whilst talking about politics. Labour has a “Chair’s Circle” where donors who part with a minimum of £5,000 join “the highest level of giving within the party“. Donors get to go to dinners with Shadow Cabinet members, VIP events at party conference with the highlight being a “Chair’s Circle welcome reception, hosted by Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Angela Rayner”. Don’t all rush…
UPDATE: Amanda Milling has hit back at Labour. In a letter sent to Anneliese Dodds, Milling highlights Labour’s donor access hypocrisy:
“Indeed in the past year the Labour Party has taken just over £1.2 million from Unite. Due to Labour infighting, this has fallen by over £4.5 million since August 2019.
Over the weekend I read that the Labour Party is now seeking donations from billionaire businessmen, such as Lord Sainsbury and Sir Trevor Chinn.
I would also like to remind you that the Labour Party runs its own Chair Circle Membership group and the Rose Network whose members can pay a fee to get access to Sir Keir Starmer, yourself, and other senior Labour Party Shadow Cabinet members. On your website it states that: “As a Rose Network member, you’ll be invited to a programme of events, including live webinar discussions with key politicians””
She concludes by asking whether Labour would prefer political parties to be funded by taxpayers instead…
Today Police Scotland has launched a formal investigation into SNP fundraising after assessing a fraud allegation since March. In the words of The Herald, “The development is a huge blow to Nicola Sturgeon”, not least because the person ultimately responsible is the SNP chief executive, and her husband, Peter Murrell. Guido has a feeling the move by Police Scotland would be headline news were it about Boris…
”Police Scotland has now received seven complaints in relation to donations that were made to the Scottish National Party.
“After assessment and consultation with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, we will now carry out an investigation.
“Enquiries are continuing and anyone who has any information which may assist with this investigation is asked to contact police.”
The development is also a swansong for Wings Over Scotland, who announced their closure two months ago. The blog came back online today to report the development, though his loyal readers will know the site had been investigating the apparent disappearance of £600,000 raised from supporters for the past 15 months. As Wings summed up in April:
“The money was supposedly to be “ring-fenced” for spending ONLY in a future indyref, and the party gave explicit and hotly-stated guarantees at the time of the first appeal that the money would definitely NOT be spent on party business.
But when the party’s 2019 accounts were published they showed that the SNP had less than £100,000 in the bank at the end of that year, and total net assets of less than £272,000. The £600,000 from the fundraisers was nowhere to be found, and the then-party treasurer’s feeble insistence that it was “woven through” the accounts in some unspecified way satisfied only the most gullible.”
This summary was followed by a much more detailed investigation days later. Guido looks forward to following this one closely…
