The Times has the bit between the teeth following the Osborne/Rothschild yacht affair, and has tracked down many UK companies with foreign ownership that have made £50,000 donations to the tories. This follows on from the Tory statement that Feldman told Oleg Deripaska a donation was OK "Secondly, if the donation comes from a legitimate UK trading company."

Interesting spat developing between George Osborne and Nathaniel Rothschild about what was or was not said to Oleg Deripaska, Russia’s richest man, about a possible donation to the Conservative Party.

This morning Today reported that Rothschild had a witness who would back up his claim in yesterday's letter to The Times if it came to court. Interesting that Osborne was accompanied by Andrew Feldman, Tory party chief executive, at the drinks party on the yacht in Corfu. Rothschild's major claim in his letter is that "George Osborne, who also accepted my hospitality, found the opportunity of meeting with Mr Deripaska so good that he invited the Conservatives’ fundraiser Andrew Feldman, who was staying nearby, to accompany him on to Mr Deripaska’s boat to solicit a donation.", and also that "it was suggested by Mr Feldman, in a subsequent conversation at which Mr Deripaska was not present, that the donation was “channelled” through one of Mr Deripaska’s British companies."

The Tories completely deny that they attempted to solicit a donation from Oleg Deripaska. Donations by overseas residents, or a proxy British company, are illegal under PPERA.

Lord Ashcroft has just announced that he will be leaving 80% of his considerable wealth to a charitable foundation. His poor family will be left with a mere £180m, and control of the trust. But why is Ashcroft briefing the press about this now?

Why is David Cameron refusing to blame the bankers for the present financial crisis? Perhaps one reason is that the Tories are being bankrolled by a group of hedge fund managers who have been making vast sums of money from plunging bank shares. Channel 4 has unearthed evidence that a small group of City financiers - who have made fortunes from falling stock markets - are paying at least £50,000 a year to Mr Cameron's 'compassionate' Conservative party. These donations entitle the donors to membership of an elite supporters club called the 'Leaders Group' and are given regular access to Mr Cameron and members of the shadow front bench.

If David Cameron wants to convince us all of his compassionate and progressive credentials he should publicly acknowledge that one of the main reasons for the recent failure of the financial markets relates to the greed and moral abdication of those in the City (some of whom are close to Team Cameron) who demanded less regulation and restraint and then ended up abusing it.

So much emphasis in the press about how "John Major's lottery" provided the success in Beijing - but lottery money has actually gone down since 2001

 

Yet to be confirmed, but my understanding is that the following people were elected to the NEC constituency section:

 

Ann Black
Peter Kenyon
Ellie Reeves
Christine Shawcroft
Peter Wheeler
Peter Willsman

Ellie Reeves topped the poll

Apparently Jack Dromey has been re-elected as treasurer of the Labour party

Peter Oborne writes in the Mail today about the current state of the party's finances

Embattled Labour Party leader Gordon Brown today invited members to underwrite the Party's debts according to their means and pledged a major overhaul to re-establish a mass-membership organisation reaching out to every community in Britain to promote Labour values.

Tribune has been following the Labour Party refinancing saga closely - seemingly the only good source of info for ordinary members on how the £21 million debt, largely from the 2005 election campaign, will be handled. The saga moves on another notch today.

According to Radio 4 (and following much speculation on this site) David Pitt Watson will not be taking up his post so the search is now on for a new Gen eral Secretary

A report is out saying Labour want trade unions to stop giving funds direct to CLPs, and send all funds to the national party - but the unions are resisting this. Anyone know anything about this?

A flurry of phone calls this morning has shone light on the possibility that the new General Secretary, David Pitt-Watson, has changed his mind about the wanting the job before he has even started.

Or is it belated good riddance to bad rubbish? Tom P of Capital & Labour (and his Mrs) has finally had enough of active Conservative Party supporters,Fidelity Investment. Fidelity has donated £435, 500 (£115,000 in 2007 alone) to the Tories in recent years without disclosing the information to their investors.

Tribune today has a dramatic article about Labour Party attempts to reschedule up to £14 million of loans, and that NEC members could be personally liable for the debts if legal action is taken. Apparently a last resort of converting the party into a limited company is being considered by some, to protect the NEC members from liability!

The requests - by the Lib Dems over the Abrahams case and the SNP over the Alexander case - for the police to investigate Labour politicians over donations obviously mirrors the "cash for honours" enquiry last year.

Reports suggest that Brown is to push for Hayden Phillips’ full recommendations on party finance in a speech today. This will essentially limit trade unions to donating 50k to the Labour Party. It is a reckless gamble.

There is only one way to clear up the mess of dodgy donations, and much like modern campaigning, it isn't cheap.

The Electoral Commission published the 2006 Statement of Accounts for the major political parties yesterday. Labour's can be downloaded here. They show the outgoing Leader left the Party with debts of £24.86 million.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6179334.stm

The Mail and BBC are reporting a 'new Labour funding scandal'. Councillors have to pay some of their allowances to the Party.

Yes...and?

As party members, we all have to pay some of our income to the party. Councillors have to pay a little bit more - and their income is made up, in part, by their allowance.

How is this even a story? The money BELONGS to the Councillors!

Am I missing something?