Cash for Access.
- Labour's plan to sell access to Tony Blair (29th March 1998).
- Blair in 'cash for access' row (5th June 198).
Labour's plan to sell access to Tony Blair (29th March 1998). [top]
A leaked strategy paper passed to The Telegraph said the Prime Minister "must continue to have private meetings" with some donors in the election and that others would "expect to be invited" to Number 10. Amanda Delew, the head of the High Value Fund-raising Unit, wrote that "some donors were brought on board by being asked to play a role in the business strategy - thus flattering their desire to offer advice".
The document is in sharp contrast with the Prime Minister's own assurances in the Commons last week that no business receives special favours from the Government and is certain to fuel the controversy over the level of access Mr Blair has given to big business.
However, the document's disclosure comes at the end of a week in which the access gained to Mr Blair by Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the News Corporation, has come under intense scrutiny. Despite Downing Street's efforts to conceal details of Mr Blair's contacts with Mr Murdoch, the media magnate admitted that the Prime Minister had agreed to lobby his Italian counterpart over his attempt to break into European television.
The document will also reopen the controversy over the £1 million donation made by Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief, who later met Mr Blair and secured an exemption for his sport from a proposed ban on tobacco sponsorship.
A Tory spokesman said last night: "This document leaves an unpleasant smell over the way Labour raises money. It looks perilously close to being a case of favours or cash for access."
Below is an extract from the leaked document written by Amanda Delew, who heads Labour's "High Value Fund-raising Unit":
Blair in 'cash for access' row (5th June 198). [top]
Tony Blair was place under pressure to suspend a member of the No 10 Policy Unit pending an investigation into allegations that he retained links with a commercial lobbying organisation seeking to influence government policy on behalf of private firms. The row involves former Labour aides who have joined lobbying companies and claim to be able to offer privileged access to ministers and government policies - including advance details of the Chancellor's speeches. According to the Observer newspaper, former advisers to Mr Blair, the Chancellor Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson, minister without portfolio, claimed to have passed confidential government information to large corporations. But the most embarrassing allegation for Mr Blair was the claim that Roger Liddle, a senior member of the Policy Unit, appeared to have continuing close links with Derek Draper, a former Mandelson aide and now director of GPC, a firm of lobbyists. It was alleged that at a recent party, Mr Liddle offered to help Mr Draper put businessmen in touch with policy-makers. There are also further allegations that a lobbying company run by three of Mr Blair's former advisers knew the contents of the Chancellor's Mansion House speech days before it was delivered. Although there is no suggestion that lobbyists' clients solicited inside information or acted improperly on any material they received, the allegations are damaging for the Government's image. Mr Blair came to power committed to cleaning up politics. As a result of these allegations Derek Draper resigned from his position with GPC Market Access two days later.