Why is it still possible for money to buy influence in our political system?
October 30, 2008 7:15 PM
Wantage and Didcot campaigner Alan Armitage
The allegations that Conservative Shadow Chancellor George Osborne discussed possible donations to his Party with a Russian billionaire will bring back painful memories of the Conservatives under John Major, who were almost permanently embroiled in allegations of sleaze. The fact that Labour cabinet member Lord Mandelson has admitted knowing the same billionaire for some years, is not exactly reassuring.
We are told that the details of this tawdry story only became public because a (former) friend of Mr Osborne felt he had betrayed the unwritten rules of an exclusive society they once belonged to - along with David Cameron and various other bigwigs in the Tory Party.
The Conservatives Party's strategy for gaining seats at the next General Election is dependent on millions of pounds in donations from Lord Ashcroft - a resident for tax purposes of Belize, in central America. But the Conservatives maintain that this is all in order. Suspicions about the influence exercised by some of Tony Blair's cronies in the last eleven years have never been laid to rest.
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg has written to David Cameron asking the Conservatives to support moves to restrict the influence of big money on political parties. Liberal Democrats have been saying for some years that there should be a limit to donations from any individuals.
Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesman in Wantage and Didcot, Alan Armitage, said: "The flow of big money into parties is dripping poison into our political system. We need to remove once and for all the risk of political parties becoming over reliant on donations from rich individuals or organisations with vested interests."
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