Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Political fund raising scandal in the UK

The Tories have their own funding scandal. Is this evidence that the electoral system in the UK is not as different from the US system as the textbooks suggest.

Tories face call to repay Rothschild £1m loan

"The Conservative party faced demands last night to repay a huge loan from a member of the Rothschild banking family made through a company set up with the sole purpose of protecting her anonymity.

"An Observer investigation has found that the party has benefited from a £1m loan from Lady Victoria de Rothschild, made via a 'non-trading' company that conducts no business and has had no other function in its four-year history than to lend the Tories money...

"Legislation barring anonymous loans, and those from non-trading companies, was introduced in 2006, after the de Rothschild loan was made, so the Tories can legitimately claim all parties were acting within the law...

"The revelation comes amid a fierce row triggered by allegations the shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, discussed with the Tories' chief fundraiser, Andrew Feldman, a possible donation from Oleg Deripaska, after meeting the Russian billionaire on his yacht in Corfu last summer...

"The party is still braced for the findings of an inquiry into shadow cabinet minister Caroline Spelman's use of Commons expenses to pay her nanny. A report from the parliamentary standards commissioner is not expected until later this autumn."


See also

Labels: ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home