Party Donations
Major blamed during 'sleaze' inquiry over
Tory donors (7th May 1998).
Former Prime minister John Major has being blamed for allowing
politicians to become too close to Conservative donors following allegations by Sir Brian
Wyldbore-Smith, the Director of the Conservative Board of Finance 1971-92, after he told
the Standards in Public Life committee that Mr Major had allowed the "Chinese
walls" between donors and politicians to "collapse".
Sir Brian said that during the period that he was in charge, between 1971 to 1992, party treasurers had dealt with all the donations and politicians had not been involved. Approximately £120 million had been raised then "during which period there were practically no accusations levelled against our policy".
But he said that after 1991 the separation between party fund raising and politicians had ended bringing "the whole thing into the political field". Sir Brian said: "I did not think it was a good thing to get the politicians involved in fund raising." Asked why the fund-raising rules had changed, he said: "I do not know. The only person who can tell you that is the Prime Minister of the time."
He confirmed that after he left his post, he had written to the senior party treasurer, Lord Hambro, to say it was a "great error".
He said when he was director of finance he had refused half a dozen big donations from abroad from non-British nationals, some of more than £1 million. He said one unnamed donor, who had had his gift refused, had tried to influence the choice of secretary of state for defence, but he would not reveal the identity of the would-be donor or the year. He confirmed that businessmen living in Hong Kong had been a good target for Tory Party fund raisers.
ASHCROFT MUST COME CLEAN ON £1 MILLION DONATION (10th December 1998).
The revelation that the Tories are refusing to disclose the origin of a £1 million donation shows that they have learnt nothing from their sleazy past, according to Paul Tyler MP, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip and Shadow Leader of the House.
Mr Tyler said:
“The Conservative Party have learnt nothing from the sleaze scandals that rocked their last years in power.
“William Hague promised that his leadership would bring openness to the murky world of Conservative Party finance, but this secret donation shows his words amounted to nothing.
“The Tories said that they would no longer accept cash from abroad, and that they would open up their books to public scrutiny. Either this donation is a foreign donation which breaks both pledges, or there is some other reason for the Tories cloaking it in secrecy.
“After all the recent huffing and puffing about tax in this country, it would look pretty odd if this £1 million is traced back to a tax exile.
“Tory Treasurer Michael Ashcroft’s influence is believed to extend to approving all cheques, and signing most of them. He must know where this donation comes from. Whatever the reasons for this excessive secrecy, Mr Ashcroft must come clean if the Tories are to have any hope of shedding their sleazy image.”