![After the Sunday Times secretly recorded the Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas claiming £250,000 would buy exclusive access to the prime minister, I wrote this piece for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism on what the investigation revealed and confirmed about top-flight lobbying.
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Cruddas’ Tobin tax boast speaks volumes about ‘premier league’ lobbying
The Sunday Times’s undercover investigation into the ‘premier league’ of Conservative super-donors contains many explosive claims. Among the most telling is Peter Cruddas’ boast that he directly lobbied the prime minister against a Tobin tax ahead of a meeting with the German chancellor.
Cruddas, who resigned from his role as Conservative co-treasurer within hours of the investigation being published, is founder of spread betting firm CMC Markets, which would have been directly hit by the proposed tax of between 0.01% and 0.1% on financial transactions.
He is also a major Tory donor, having given £1.2m in party donations and support for the No2AV campaign; his wife and company have also donated thousands to the party coffers.
The City tycoon told the Sunday Times’s undercover reporters he had attended a party at Woburn Abbey and gained personal assurances from David Cameron on the tax.
‘I knew he was seeing [Angela] Merkel the next day, so when I’m having my photograph done I said, prime minister, for God’s sake, don’t let them bring in the Tobin tax where they tax financial transactions. He said, “Don’t even worry about it, don’t even think about it, it ain’t going to happen, not on my watch”. Thank you prime minister … Bosh. Off we go,’ Cruddas said.
Cameron has consistently opposed calls by European leaders to back the Tobin tax.
The Conservative Party openly sells face-to-face access to David Cameron and other senior figures through its Leaders Group, which offers those who donate over £50,000 opportunities to join the prime minister and Cabinet members at ‘dinners, post-PMQ lunches, drinks receptions, election result events and important campaign launches’.
Last year a major Bureau investigation into Tory party funding revealed that 101 individuals were eligible to attend such events – although as they are considered private, there was no way of knowing who had taken up the invitations, or what was discussed.
Still, the Bureau found a strong correlation between the interests of the City – the party’s biggest donors – and government policy.
And a former government minister told the Bureau most large donations were motivated by a desire to influence policy: ‘Most of them [donors] do not have a political bone in their body. They are completely apolitical. All they care about is their agenda.’
In opposition, David Cameron famously vowed to change ‘a system in which too much power is concentrated in the hands of the elite and denied to the man and woman on the street… I believe it’s time we shone the light of transparency on lobbying in our country and forced our politics to come clean about who is buying power and influence.’
The party has denied that big donations equate to high-level influence - but as the Sunday Times investigation confirms, behind closed doors the story remains very different.
Spread betting’s support for the Tory party The spread betting industry has long been generous to the Conservatives. In 2001, Stuart Wheeler, founder of pioneering spread betting company IG Index, gave £5m to the Conservatives in what remains the UK’s largest-ever single political donation.
Electoral Commission records show Cruddas, founder of spread betting company CMC Markets, has contributed over £800,000 directly to the party coffers, while his wife Fiona has donated a further £8,000 and an auction prize worth £2,653.
In June 2011, as Cruddas was made co-treasurer of the Conservative Party, CMC Markets made a £100,000 donation.
The party treasurer before Cruddas was Michael Spencer, chair of IPGL Ltd. This holding company owns City Index, another spread betting company, as well as the city’s most powerful inter-dealer broker. Spencer has contributed over £168,000 in cash, and a further £120,000 in travel expenses, auction prizes and sponsorships.
IPGL Ltd itself is a generous supporter of the party: it has donated over £3.1m in cash since 2005, as well as over £290,000 in staff costs, £112,151 in sponsorships, £70,330 in travel costs and £3,584 in auction prizes, taking its total contribution to the Conservative Party to over £3.6m.
Guido Fawkes has flagged up an interview with derivatives magazine Risk, in which Spencer claimed he too had received assurances on the Tobin tax from ‘very, very senior members of our administration’.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m38zbuWzil1rulpgbo1_500.jpg)
After the Sunday Times secretly recorded the Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas claiming £250,000 would buy exclusive access to the prime minister, I wrote this piece for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism on what the investigation revealed and confirmed about top-flight lobbying.
::
Cruddas’ Tobin tax boast speaks volumes about ‘premier league’ lobbying
The Sunday Times’s undercover investigation into the ‘premier league’ of Conservative super-donors contains many explosive claims. Among the most telling is Peter Cruddas’ boast that he directly lobbied the prime minister against a Tobin tax ahead of a meeting with the German chancellor.
Cruddas, who resigned from his role as Conservative co-treasurer within hours of the investigation being published, is founder of spread betting firm CMC Markets, which would have been directly hit by the proposed tax of between 0.01% and 0.1% on financial transactions.
He is also a major Tory donor, having given £1.2m in party donations and support for the No2AV campaign; his wife and company have also donated thousands to the party coffers.
The City tycoon told the Sunday Times’s undercover reporters he had attended a party at Woburn Abbey and gained personal assurances from David Cameron on the tax.
‘I knew he was seeing [Angela] Merkel the next day, so when I’m having my photograph done I said, prime minister, for God’s sake, don’t let them bring in the Tobin tax where they tax financial transactions. He said, “Don’t even worry about it, don’t even think about it, it ain’t going to happen, not on my watch”. Thank you prime minister … Bosh. Off we go,’ Cruddas said.
Cameron has consistently opposed calls by European leaders to back the Tobin tax.
The Conservative Party openly sells face-to-face access to David Cameron and other senior figures through its Leaders Group, which offers those who donate over £50,000 opportunities to join the prime minister and Cabinet members at ‘dinners, post-PMQ lunches, drinks receptions, election result events and important campaign launches’.
Last year a major Bureau investigation into Tory party funding revealed that 101 individuals were eligible to attend such events – although as they are considered private, there was no way of knowing who had taken up the invitations, or what was discussed.
Still, the Bureau found a strong correlation between the interests of the City – the party’s biggest donors – and government policy.
And a former government minister told the Bureau most large donations were motivated by a desire to influence policy: ‘Most of them [donors] do not have a political bone in their body. They are completely apolitical. All they care about is their agenda.’
In opposition, David Cameron famously vowed to change ‘a system in which too much power is concentrated in the hands of the elite and denied to the man and woman on the street… I believe it’s time we shone the light of transparency on lobbying in our country and forced our politics to come clean about who is buying power and influence.’
The party has denied that big donations equate to high-level influence - but as the Sunday Times investigation confirms, behind closed doors the story remains very different.
Spread betting’s support for the Tory party
The spread betting industry has long been generous to the Conservatives. In 2001, Stuart Wheeler, founder of pioneering spread betting company IG Index, gave £5m to the Conservatives in what remains the UK’s largest-ever single political donation.
Electoral Commission records show Cruddas, founder of spread betting company CMC Markets, has contributed over £800,000 directly to the party coffers, while his wife Fiona has donated a further £8,000 and an auction prize worth £2,653.
In June 2011, as Cruddas was made co-treasurer of the Conservative Party, CMC Markets made a £100,000 donation.
The party treasurer before Cruddas was Michael Spencer, chair of IPGL Ltd. This holding company owns City Index, another spread betting company, as well as the city’s most powerful inter-dealer broker. Spencer has contributed over £168,000 in cash, and a further £120,000 in travel expenses, auction prizes and sponsorships.
IPGL Ltd itself is a generous supporter of the party: it has donated over £3.1m in cash since 2005, as well as over £290,000 in staff costs, £112,151 in sponsorships, £70,330 in travel costs and £3,584 in auction prizes, taking its total contribution to the Conservative Party to over £3.6m.
Guido Fawkes has flagged up an interview with derivatives magazine Risk, in which Spencer claimed he too had received assurances on the Tobin tax from ‘very, very senior members of our administration’.
After the Sunday Times secretly recorded the Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas claiming £250,000 would buy exclusive access to the prime minister, I wrote this piece for the Bureau of Investigative Journalism on what the investigation revealed and confirmed about top-flight lobbying.
::
Cruddas’ Tobin tax boast speaks volumes about ‘premier league’ lobbying
The Sunday Times’s undercover investigation into the ‘premier league’ of Conservative super-donors contains many explosive claims. Among the most telling is Peter Cruddas’ boast that he directly lobbied the prime minister against a Tobin tax ahead of a meeting with the German chancellor.
Cruddas, who resigned from his role as Conservative co-treasurer within hours of the investigation being published, is founder of spread betting firm CMC Markets, which would have been directly hit by the proposed tax of between 0.01% and 0.1% on financial transactions.
He is also a major Tory donor, having given £1.2m in party donations and support for the No2AV campaign; his wife and company have also donated thousands to the party coffers.
The City tycoon told the Sunday Times’s undercover reporters he had attended a party at Woburn Abbey and gained personal assurances from David Cameron on the tax.
‘I knew he was seeing [Angela] Merkel the next day, so when I’m having my photograph done I said, prime minister, for God’s sake, don’t let them bring in the Tobin tax where they tax financial transactions. He said, “Don’t even worry about it, don’t even think about it, it ain’t going to happen, not on my watch”. Thank you prime minister … Bosh. Off we go,’ Cruddas said.
Cameron has consistently opposed calls by European leaders to back the Tobin tax.
The Conservative Party openly sells face-to-face access to David Cameron and other senior figures through its Leaders Group, which offers those who donate over £50,000 opportunities to join the prime minister and Cabinet members at ‘dinners, post-PMQ lunches, drinks receptions, election result events and important campaign launches’.
Last year a major Bureau investigation into Tory party funding revealed that 101 individuals were eligible to attend such events – although as they are considered private, there was no way of knowing who had taken up the invitations, or what was discussed.
Still, the Bureau found a strong correlation between the interests of the City – the party’s biggest donors – and government policy.
And a former government minister told the Bureau most large donations were motivated by a desire to influence policy: ‘Most of them [donors] do not have a political bone in their body. They are completely apolitical. All they care about is their agenda.’
In opposition, David Cameron famously vowed to change ‘a system in which too much power is concentrated in the hands of the elite and denied to the man and woman on the street… I believe it’s time we shone the light of transparency on lobbying in our country and forced our politics to come clean about who is buying power and influence.’
The party has denied that big donations equate to high-level influence - but as the Sunday Times investigation confirms, behind closed doors the story remains very different.
Spread betting’s support for the Tory party
The spread betting industry has long been generous to the Conservatives. In 2001, Stuart Wheeler, founder of pioneering spread betting company IG Index, gave £5m to the Conservatives in what remains the UK’s largest-ever single political donation.
Electoral Commission records show Cruddas, founder of spread betting company CMC Markets, has contributed over £800,000 directly to the party coffers, while his wife Fiona has donated a further £8,000 and an auction prize worth £2,653.
In June 2011, as Cruddas was made co-treasurer of the Conservative Party, CMC Markets made a £100,000 donation.
The party treasurer before Cruddas was Michael Spencer, chair of IPGL Ltd. This holding company owns City Index, another spread betting company, as well as the city’s most powerful inter-dealer broker. Spencer has contributed over £168,000 in cash, and a further £120,000 in travel expenses, auction prizes and sponsorships.
IPGL Ltd itself is a generous supporter of the party: it has donated over £3.1m in cash since 2005, as well as over £290,000 in staff costs, £112,151 in sponsorships, £70,330 in travel costs and £3,584 in auction prizes, taking its total contribution to the Conservative Party to over £3.6m.
Guido Fawkes has flagged up an interview with derivatives magazine Risk, in which Spencer claimed he too had received assurances on the Tobin tax from ‘very, very senior members of our administration’.
Posted 1 year ago & Filed under Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Analysis, Lobbying, Sunday Times, David Cameron, View high resolution
