[Mrluvaluva]

Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas has resigned after being filmed apparently offering access to Prime Minister David Cameron in return for donations.

In an undercover investigation, The Sunday Times claimed Mr Cruddas offered two international financiers the opportunity to lobby Mr Cameron directly on policy matters if they donated at least £250,000 a year to the party's election war chest.

It said the Liechtenstein-based financiers were actually undercover reporters who secretly filmed Mr Cruddas at their meeting in a hotel overlooking Lake Zurich.

In the meeting, Mr Cruddas told the undercover reporters that "things will open up for you" if they donated that amount of money to the Conservatives.
He added: "It will be awesome for your business."

Announcing his resignation, Mr Cruddas said in a statement: "I deeply regret any impression of impropriety arising from my bluster in that conversation.
"Clearly there is no question of donors being able to influence policy or gain undue access to politicians.

"Specifically, it was categorically not the case that I could offer, or that David Cameron would consider, any access as a result of a donation. Similarly, I have never knowingly even met anyone from the Number 10 policy unit.
"But in order to make that clear beyond doubt, I have regrettably decided to resign with immediate effect."

The newspaper claimed its investigation revealed that rich donors could buy "premier league" direct access to the Prime Minister and exposed the "hollowness of Tory pre-election promises" to clamp down on lobbyists.

However, a Conservative Party spokesman told Sky News: "No donation was ever accepted or even formally considered by the Conservative Party.

"All donations to the Conservative Party have to comply with the requirements of electoral law. These are strictly enforced by our compliance department.

"Unlike the Labour Party, where union donations are traded for party policies, donations to the Conservative Party do not buy party or government policy.

"We will urgently investigate any evidence to the contrary."

Labour challenged the Prime Minister to "come clean" about what he knew and when.


more...

[Kizzy]

Haha! surprised?.....not at all!

[arista]

Originally Posted by kizzy

Haha! surprised?.....not at all!

What about Milliband giving a Sickie
missing a Party function
then fit as a fiddle
goes to meet a Rich Future Funder of Labour.




As for this Conservative treasurer
he resigns.
Great Sting
well done the Sunday Times - A Quality Paper.


Feel The Force.

[joeysteele]

So much for cleaning out the deadwood from Parliament, the 2 main parties though all have characters like this in them, the worst of them now likely being the Lib Dems.
The system we have in politics is really a rotten one,sadly little will change for likely decades to come.

[Marc]

what a boob

[Omah]

Originally Posted by kizzy

Haha! surprised?.....not at all!

Yeah, only to be expected .....

Cameron's still Mr Clean ..... but for how long .....

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Omah

Yeah, only to be expected .....

Cameron's still Mr Clean ..... but for how long .....

I don't think he is, he may yet have some very searching and badly damaging questions as to Andy Coulson yet.

David Cameron is a poor leader of the Conservative party,even a lot of Conservative voters feel he is a loser due to bad choices and decisions.

[waterhog]

David C is in a brothel and peter Cruddas is Pimping

same old Tory's,
you are worse then the rose,
thank you peter,
and all that he did expose.
you are money led,
its clear its in your party,
any trust that has been built,
will now make avoidable the blue smarty.
its all about access,
David C is in a brothel,
and pimping him out is Cruddas,
he spices him up with plenty of waffle.
so what is the going rate,
quarter of a mill, sounds not cheap,
bring in a "Sunday times reporter",
who will now be perceived as a creep.
comparing it to football,
this money will get you in "premier league" position,
with a wink wink nudge nudge,
you can even influece government policy edition.
in Buckingshire David did express,
while running the sports relief mile,
its quite ironic that a few pounds for charity,
and the Cruddas thousands for access, is creating a sour smile.
donations are now under scrutiny,
but no law has been broken,
i want to highlight the expense scandal,
change is not happening and this is a bitter sweet token.

(hello everyone on this message board. i woke up to Sunday politics on the bbc - and this story really made me think so i done some digging and put this together. what i am trying to say if you don't get my poems is - THE CON PARTY WONT EVER CHANGE. they are so CORRUPT. and that's why i will never vote for them. has this episode made you think about voting for them ? )

[arista]

Originally Posted by joeysteele

So much for cleaning out the deadwood from Parliament, the 2 main parties though all have characters like this in them, the worst of them now likely being the Lib Dems.
The system we have in politics is really a rotten one,sadly little will change for likely decades to come.

Labour should have done it in their
13 years of Corruption.


The problem is Labour will not agree to changes
as there Unions money is all they have at times.

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by arista

Labour should have done it in their
13 years of Corruption.


The problem is Labour will not agree to changes
as there Unions money is all theyu have at times.

Well yes, I would agree to that but in all fairness the Conservatives had not 13 years but 18 years of total rule with good majorities from 1979 right through the entire 80s until 1997,yet equally they did nothing as to this issue either.
In fact in 1997,the Conservative party was seen as the one with most sleaze after that time.

I am not a party political person, I can see the good and bad in both but it worries me that any party can be in unbroken Govt for 18 years and another for 13 years following that and still not get it right.
For me, that shows the party system helps corrupt politicians and also cause problems for the UK rather than serving the people of the UK.

I think I would agree that it would be best if Labour didn't have the funding from the Trade Unions but by the same token I would want to see big business removed from donating to the Conservatives too.Both major parties have 'other' masters,they are just different ones but neither are healthy for the citizens of the UK overall.

[arista]

"I think I would agree that it would be best if Labour didn't have the funding from the Trade Unions but by the same token I would want to see big business removed from donating to the Conservatives too.Both major parties have 'other' masters,they are just different ones but neither are healthy for the citizens of the UK overall. "

But Labour wants Unions
and Private Rich Men at the same time.

Its Stinks


Also I am getting Sick of the Labour Leader Demanding
a Public Inquiry.
He is not in a Postion to do that
he can call in another Sickie miss a Party Function
and then go vist Another Rich Future Labour Funder.

[waterhog]

at leaste we all agree lol we need a new party and a hold load of new MP not in it for themselves - the day that happens is the day this country runs correctly and i can predict when it will happen - NEVER lol

[Kizzy]

Todays independant...Quote from Mr Cameron
''We've reformed party funding. I took over a party with £20 million of debt. It's now virtually debt-free,” he said

Hmmm....wonder how he managed that?.....

Quote:
Shadow minister Michael Dugher wrote to the Prime Minister demanding that he disclose which Tory donors had visited Downing Street, Chequers or Dorneywood since May 2010 and what policy representations they had made, particularly on the top rate of income tax that was cut in Wednesday's Budget.

hmmm..good question mick wonder what daves response will be to that? haha

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by WATERHOG

at leaste we all agree lol we need a new party and a hold load of new MP not in it for themselves - the day that happens is the day this country runs correctly and i can predict when it will happen - NEVER lol

I agree in the main Waterhog, over the last 30+ years we have had 18 years of Conservative unbroken government then 13 years of Labour unbroken government.


They have both equally failed miserably the UK and the voters who elected them in that time. However in both parties there are good ideas and aims, there are also many MPs of both those parties who can be termed consensus politicians.

One thing is likely clear now and that is that the Conservatives are unlikely to get an overall majority in elections for a good while to come.They will always get between 33% and 37% of the popular vote in my view but that will be nowhere near what they need for an overall majority, their hidden agenda with the NHS will have near all other voters totally unwilling to vote for them next time round.

Hopefully one day,it just may be when that realisation eventually dawns that the consensus politicians may say enough is enough hopefully from both parties too because really Labour voters are as disillusioned with Ed Miliband as a great number of Conservative MPs and Conservative voters are with David Cameron.

[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17507033

People don't usually get wealthy without demanding something concrete in return for their money.

Donors to political parties - who don't give anything like the quarter of a million pounds apparently needed to join the Conservative "Premier League" - are regularly offered access to all the party leaders.

This usually happens over a formal dinner with other party supporters. In return for their donation they get the chance not only to chat to the current or future minister or prime minister but also the opportunity to boast about it to their friends or even to show off the photographs.

What they are not meant to be buying is the opportunity to influence policy.

It is, in truth, a pretty fine line but one which the now ex-Tory Treasurer, Peter Cruddas, trampled all over.

He was caught on camera boasting of his readiness to swap cash not just for access to the prime minister and his wife in their private apartment, but for an input into policy via a committee at No 10.

What Mr Cruddas called "bluster" has opened the prime minister up to demands that he reveals who he meets when - even when it is in his own home - and what it is they discussed or lobbied for.

Transparency is, the prime minister once said, the best disinfectant.

So, cash for Mr Cameron joins cash for honours, secret loans, Yachtgate and all the rest in the long history of party funding scandals that have affected all parties and always lead to calls for something to be done.

The reason nothing much has been done is simple. Most independent reports into party funding recommend increased taxpayer support for politics combined with a cap on individual and trade union donations.

It's a recipe vetoed first by the opinion polls ("A granny tax to pay for election posters," anyone?) and secondly by the Conservative and Labour parties' fear that they will be unilaterally disarming themselves in the political funding arms race.

So, what will be the impact of the Sunday Times's story?

It is likely to strengthen the hand of Nick Clegg, who is the minister in charge of the stalled negotiations meant to produce change to the rules.

It will boost those who suggest that Conservative policies on everything from tax to the NHS and welfare policies are inspired by the lobbying and/or donations of the very rich.

I am well boosted .....

Cameron's Cronies (AKA The Chipping Norton Chapter) are running this country based on the Corleone Principle of Family First and ******* the Rest .....