The Conservative Party BOUGHT the 2015 general election
David Cameron’s Conservatives paid nearly £2.4 million to ‘Lizard of Oz’ Lynton Crosby’s company during the election campaign [Image: PA].
The Tories splashed out more than £15 million on their campaign – more than Labour and the Liberal Democrats combined.
And now they have a majority, they are changing the law to restrict other parties’ funds, meaning they will have an even greater advantage at future elections.
Conservatives: The Party of Corruption.
The Tories splashed nearly £2.4million on election guru Lynton Crosby’s lobbying firm during the General Election campaign, figures revealed today.
The party lavished the cash on the controversial Australian’s company before he was knighted in the New Year honours.
Mr Crosby was widely hailed as being the mastermind behind David Cameron ‘s shock election triumph.
The Tories also spent £1.2million on Facebook advertising, the Electoral Commission stats showed.
The party spent almost £15.6million during the campaign – as much as Labour and the Lib Dems combined.
Source: Tories splashed out £2.4million on controversial election chief Lynton Crosby – Mirror Online
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But there again had we had true labour mps not blairites then they would have lost out jeff3
So true because if Corbyn had been the leader the whole country would have voted for him just a straight choice between good and evil
In Mid Wales, to many people’s surprise and regret we lost a very well liked Lib Dem. While this could have been the Coalition Effect people saw our MP as a good constituency MP. He was certainly very helpful to me.and my family. Then in waltzes our new MP, someone who hardly anyone had ever heard of. A Tory of course. I cannot now remember my source but I was told that Tories poured shedloads of money into marginal seats one of which was Brecon and Radnorshire. As you say, that’s what gave the Tory party the edge – money.
How much did the four-page wraparound advert for the Tories on the Brecon and Radnor Express cost?
I was disgusted – both with the Tories for buying it and the B&R for running it.
That wouldn’t have happened in my day!
Just a thought… a couple of days before the election date last year I was driving back from Cheltenham to Gloucester and saw an older gent taking down an advert for UKIP which had been there for many days. It was on a very busy roundabout (junction of the A46 and the A417) he was beeped by people in cars who seemed to know him as he was taking it down and waved, so I presume he was a local. Always wondered why they would take down one of their prominent adverts before the election day, was he asked by police to do so due to safety or were they paid by people who just used them to skew public opinion to the right….
errr, UKip is right?, VERY right.
No. UKIP is a far-right splinter group supported by racists.
The Tories will carry out every underhand trick in the trade to make it as difficult as possible for Labour voters next time. I just hope that, with Jeremy in charge, we will find a way to overcome their undemocratic actions but I really fear that unless the general public take a leaf out of the junior doctors’ book there will be nothing left if we allow another four years to pass without taking a firm stand. Downton Abbey here we come!
we all knew the tories rigged the election they had no chance of winning because of what they have done we need a revolution
Wonder how much they’ll spend on winning the next election?
I would say they bought the election in large part through the ‘Help to Buy’ scheme and it will definitely blow up in their face … oh hold on it’s the taxpayer who is on the hook for that …
Michael Meacher was onto this, back in December 2014:
http://www.michaelmeacher.info/weblog/2014/12/tories-buy-election/
Quote from the above link: “In March this year the Electoral Commission recommended there should be no increase in spending limits for candidates between now and the general election on 7 May. It also proposed that there should be only an increase in spending of £2.9m for the ‘short’ 3-week campaign leading up to the election. So what did the Tories do? Ignoring the official recommendations of the Electoral Commission, they pushed through increases in permitted spending twice those proposed by the Commission. This works hugely well for them because they have amassed an electoral war chest vastly greater than Labour’s, and will now be able to turn most of it to their own unilateral advantage.
But that’s only half of it. The Tories have raised a colossal £78m in the last 4 years, and significantly no less than £21m (more than a quarter) has come from hedge fund donors. Why have the latter been so generous? Perhaps the fact that Osborne in the small print of his 2013 budget abolished stamp duty reserve tax on hedge funds may have something to do with it. That little-noticed giveaway was worth £145m to the hedgies!
Another relevant sleight of hand the Tories have used involves secretive unincorporated associations such as dinner clubs which don’t have to declare the identity of their members. Two of these well-endowed clubs have now greatly increased their donations to marginal seats. In this last quarter 34 Tory associations, all in marginal seats, received funds totalling £116m from these 2 clubs alone.
This has come about through surreptitious rule changes hidden deep within statutory instruments which Labour, to its discredit, failed to spot. That doesn’t however justify the widespread corruption of the democratic process by the Tories using any underhand and secretive devices to subvert the popular will. It is a blatant case of trying to buy elections. The Electoral Commission specifically warned against “excessive spending to prevent the perception of undue influence over the outcome of the election”. “
We are playing right into the hands of Murdoch & his pals.
In the US it`s the Koch brothers (who have stakes in 75% of US energy companies) & their fellow billionaires who decide which Republicans to support/donate to – in 2012 it didn`t work, though: they funneled $400m (yes, Four.Hundred.Million) to their ‘chosen’ Republican candidates through front organisations, but Romney still lost to Obama.
When the SelfServatives raised the figure re: electoral spending, they figuratively extended their hands palm upwards & put out the message, “Help us to win by donating to us & we`ll look after you when it comes to legislation.”
I refer you to the 90s film Brewster`s Millions, when Richard Pryor`s character made an election ad that pointed out, “Why would the other 2 candidates spend over $2m on campaigning for a limited-term elected position that only pays £60,000 a year unless they had a way to get it all back?”
That’s a really good point.
Perhaps someone who’s good at infographics can come up with a UK-Tory version of the same poster?