Labour demands Tories 'come clean' with details of dinners with super-rich donors
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Labour has demanded the Tory government 'come clean' about dinners attended by super-rich donors and senior ministers.
The Conservative party last published details of meetings with the exclusive ‘Leader’s Group’ of high-value donors in December 2016, despite promising to disclose them every quarter.
Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jon Trickett has written to Tory chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin, urging the party to “come clean” and publish full details of the meetings immediately.
The exclusive group of wealthy party backers is responsible for more than half of the £6.2 million donations to the party since the 2016 General Election.
And they have given the party £65 million between them since they came to power.
Only donors with the deepest pockets had access to the elite group, open to those who donate at least £50,000 to the Conservative Party.
(Image: Getty Images)
According to the Party’s website The Leader’s Group “is the premier supporter Group of the Conservative Party. Members are invited to join Theresa May and other senior figures from the Conservative Party at dinners, post-PMQ lunches, drinks receptions, election result events and important campaign launches.”
Following the ‘cash for access’ scandal in 2012, then-Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to publish quarterly details of “any meals attended by major donors, whether they take place at Downing Street, Chequers or any official residence.”
The last publication of such events was in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Mr Trickett said: “Access to power should not be about how big your wallet is. A functioning democracy is not one that allows the super-rich to buy influence in the governing Party without any transparency.
“By failing to provide details of these meetings, Theresa May is breaking her own Party’s promise to be more transparent about the influence their super-rich donors have within their Party.”
Theresa May has previously called on political parties to wean themselves off their reliance on high value donors.
(Image: PA)
In a House of Commons speech in 2007, she said: “It has long been the position of the Conservative party that in order to restore public trust we must remove the dependency of the political parties on all large donors, regardless of whether they are individuals, businesses or trade unions.”
And in her conference speech in October last year, she promised: “The Government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the rich and powerful, but by the interests of ordinary, working class people.”
A Conservative Party spokesperson said: "All donations to the Conservative party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with the law."