If Tory donors don’t influence government policy, why would they pay such huge amounts?
Grant Shapps: he
Reality check: the super-rich never pay money for nothing.
So Grant Shapps’s claim on the Thursday morning (August 5) media round that Tory donors have “no influence” on Tory government policy already looks dodgy, before we even go into it in any depth.
Now consider the fact that the people he was discussing have been giving at least £50,000 to join a so-called ‘Leader’s Group’ and have access to the Tory leader/prime minister – and more than five times as much (a quarter of a million pounds per year – to be in the so-called ‘Advisory Board’ (unless they were friends of Ben Elliot, allegedly).
Leader’s Group. Advisory Board. Those are not the names of clubs whose members have ” no influence”. Quite the opposite.
It is true that political parties rely on funding for their existence – from party members and from donors. They don’t manufacture anything that is sellable, after all.
But they do provide a particular service – or at least they say they do – which is to run the affairs of the United Kingdom according to a clearly-defined policy platform.
Most of us – including rank and file party members – get very little say in how those policies are shaped.
But now we come back to that issue of very rich people paying astronomical sums of money purely to be told the policies they are supporting at occasional events – as Shapps wants us to believe.
It simply isn’t plausible.
There needs to be an investigation into these schemes. How are donors enticed into contributing, what are they told they get in return, and what do they actually get?
If Shapps says his party adheres to Electoral Commission rules, then he should not object to an investigation.
In fact, the Electoral Commission should be empowered to run undercover investigations.
It seems to This Writer that the best way to make sure the sleazy Tories stick to the straight-and-narrow is to make them fear prosecution and punishment if they don’t.
Shapps himself was once called “Britain’s most perennially caught-out serial liar” and a glance at his career makes the reason clear.
At least we haven’t heard anything about his aliases Sebastian Fox and Michael Green for a while.
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
It’s so obvious it doesn’t need repeating – except it does given the fascist tories continue to lie and lie and lie! Very rich powerful fascist tory male donors give huge sums to the fascist tory party because they expect ££££ in return!! Furthermore these greedy corrupt fascist tory male donors know they will influence policies and ensure the fascist tory boys in power do what they want not what we the non-human and expendable peasants want!
Little England doesn’t have a democracy rather what we have is a fascist tory dictatorship funded and controlled by greedy billionaire male fascists! These boys are obsessed with increasing their wealth and power over us peasants!
What more can I say, other than I totally agree with you. Of course these greedy billionaire fascists would not give a penny to a beggar unless they though they would get a big reward for it. It is simply corruption.
I agree with you 100%! Of course these greedy billionaire corrupt fascists wouldn’t give one penny to a beggar unless they thought they would get a huge benefit from it, so they certainly expect to get vast rewards for their contributions to any Government no matter which party.