Listening to Cameron on the radio yesterday afternoon, praising the RAF, Navy and Army made me so damned angry. He is such a hypocrite, he is in the process of sacking staff from all three. Ark Royal is to be broken up and Nimrods etc are already lining up in the knackers yard. Cameron is an idiot and he is taking us for idiots too.
Cameron is engaging in this because his popularity is slipping, his party is sliding in the polls and he sees this as his "Falklands", hopefully this time around because we have the Internet he will not get away with this as his " mother" Thatcher did. The two most gung-ho leaders, the ones who right from the start wanted military action were Sarkozy and Cameron, both in trouble with their voters. Bahrain, what are we doing about them? Saudi Arabia has been in Bahrain killing innocent citizens, are we doing anything about that? Er no, what we have done though is invited their royal family to our royal wedding!
I am sorry for the Libyans, but I do not think we should be involved, this is nothing to do with us. This is another Iraq waiting to happen. Gaddafi will never leave Libya and neither will his sons, the only way the West will defeat Gaddafi is to actually go in on the ground and do it and this has not been sanctioned by the dithering UN. China, Russia, Germany and Turkey are not backing this action, so how can Cameron say it has full UN backing? This is just another deception and slight of hand from Cameron, again he is guilty of misleading the British public. If we do manage to get Gaddafi out, who will run Libya? No one is answering this question, no one answered exactly the same question when I asked it about Iraq and now look at the mess there. Libya will be open to insurgency just like Iraq, it will become another breeding ground for al qaeda terrorists and we will see civil war in Libya for many, many years to come, there has to be a better way than what is happening at present.
David Cameron is loving this, after all he is the person who admits to watching "Who Dares Wins" upwards of 17 times!
I am wondering if the Liberal Democrats are backing this? If they are this has to be the biggest turn about face that I will ever witness in politics and just shows them for opportunists we have come to see they are. If the Liberal Democrats did not back Iraq, then they should not be backing Libya for virtually all the same reasons.
Cameron says we have no money, yet he finds money to waste for useless pathetic AV referendums. We have no money yet he is finding money to waste asking us all how happy we are and now he is finding billions to waste on a war that does not concern this country, we are already overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, if the Arab countries want something done about Libya, then let the rich Arab countries do something about it, why is it down to us yet again? Or is it that Cameron sees this as a chance to try and regain his popularity?
We will not be thanked for this intervention, we never, ever are, in fact I fear this will open this country up to further terrorist attacks.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Can't The Tories Do Anything Right?
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| "Did I Really Say That?" The Gaffes & Gaps Of David Cameron |
UK rescue workers say they had to leave quake-hit Japan because they could not secure the necessary paperwork from the British embassy in Tokyo.
The International Rescue Corps said they were not given permission to work in Japan because it would have made the embassy legally responsible for them.A spokesman for the team said it was "gut-wrenching" to be stopped from helping by "your own country".
"This was the 32nd world disaster we have been to and we've only had problems twice before with host governments in China and Afghanistan.
"We have never encountered the position where the British embassy, our own country, came up with a show-stopper."
Mr McMartin said the team had permission from the Japanese embassy in London but they could not get a letter of authorisation from British officials in Japan stating that they were a bona fide organisation. They needed this so they could move around the country and buy fuel.
The team members, who were going to focus on humanitarian rather than search and rescue work, arrived in Tokyo on Monday night and caught a flight home at 1300 local time on Wednesday. They donated their food and medical supplies to the Salvation Army working in the country."
When is this useless incompetent Tory government going to get its act together and get a grip on foreign affairs? Quite honestly this government's grip on foreign policy is tenuous at very best.
David Cameron, William Hague and Liam Fox's grip and their reaction to whatever comes up in foreign affairs is wholly woeful, each time something happens they are left utterly floundering.
David Cameron has been reverting back and forth from realism to idealism and back again and then back again, in short he is running around like a headless chicken and he has not got a clue what to do or when to do it. While he is doing this, he is making the UK look weak and indecisive and as if we are being led by a blithering, posturing, publicity seeking idiot, who desperately wants all the plaudits but lacks the intellect to earn them! Statesman is something that David Cameron is certainly not, he is a dreadful embarrassment.
Cameron continued with his ill-timed trip to the Gulf despite the unease in that region growing, and as the revolt in Libya grew, Cameron's judgement which has been called into question far more times than any other leader in such a short space of time, saw nothing wrong with continuing a trip to sell arms to unstable countries. He has gone from being almost mercantilist, to referring to himself as some kind of "muscular Liberalist" the thing is that no one knew what Cameron stood for before the election in 2010 and now almost a year later people still do not know. The gaffes and gaps in Cameron's foreign policy have been laid bare for all to see.
Obviously there is some truth in that barb that is now doing the rounds and it is especially true of this awful Japanese disaster, "Cameron's diplomats back home could not order a taxi let alone charter a plane" or even get the correct paperwork to the correct people to enable them to dispense much needed help and relief to many Japanese people.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Tesco and the Government
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| David Cameron Blowing Hot Air and Bubbles Again! |
Tesco is making £53million a year selling information on the spending habits of shoppers, including the 16million members of its Clubcard loyalty scheme. How much will Tesco be charging the Government for this kind of information?
Not only does this let Tesco chiefs know which range of products to stock in different areas, but it can also sell the information to a range of retailers and to major manufacturers, including Unilever, Nestle and Heinz. It can also sell information they have gathered about people to the government.
Think this will only effect those claiming benefits? Think again! By law, all data has to be made available on-line and in real time to HMRC. Thus means the tax inspector can check up on you and see what you have been spending too.
This Tory-led government have made much about civil liberties, but are set to use the most infringing actions against people than I believe any government has ever done before them.
It will not just be those relatively few people claiming benefit fraudulently that will be visited by these acts, it will be every single person in this country and if this government get away with this, what next?
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
More "Tory Donor" Woes Ahead For David Cameron - Tchenguiz Brothers Arrested
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| Robert, Lisa and Vincent Tchenguiz On Vincent's Yacht |
Today Robert Tchenguiz, the property tycoon who formerly invested in pub companies Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) and Laurel, has been arrested along with his brother Vincent by the City of London Police and the serious fraud office, as part of the investigation into the collapse of Icelandic investment bank Kaupthing.
Robert Tchenguiz had borrowed more than one billion pounds from the bank as part of his investments in M&B and Laurel, among other companies. he and his estranged wife heather recently separated and heather had this to say "‘I don't want my children to be brought up surrounded by private jets, glamorous parties, vast yachts in the South of France and endless hangers-on. I want them to develop proper values in life".
Now we have the absurd situation where we have large financial donations made to the British Conservative party by two brothers said to owe former Kaupthing bank billions. Kaupthing collapsed in October 2008, leaving the UK Treasury with a £2bn bill for compensating UK savers.
The Labour government had no option but to help the British taxpayer, yet directly or indirectly the Conservative party now in government has benefited from several donors tied up in the collapse of the Icelandic bank Kaupthing and the Tories have the brass nerve to accuse Labour of leaving this country in a mess, while Labour were forced to bail out British savers, some of which incidentally happen to be the very local authorities this Tory-led government have just issued with up to a 20 percent cut in funding, which in turn is having a catastrophic effect on local people and their public services.
Where is this all going to end for the Conservatives? How long is a piece of string? It looks like those Tory donor chickens are beginning to come home to roost!
Remember David Rowland? On June 25th 2010 the Conservative Head Office announced that David Rowland will take over as Conservative Party Treasurer in the autumn. Rowland a property magnate, Electoral Commission records show that he donated almost £3 million to the Tory party in the year leading up to the autumn of 2010.
In one of the earlier worries about David Cameron's judgement, the Conservative Party refused to comment on reports David Cameron was urged not to appoint him by senior party figures. Mr Rowland has faced criticism of his former tax exile status.
Former Tory deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, and the party's current co-treasurer Michael Spencer had both warned the Conservative leader that Mr Rowland's appointment could generate adverse publicity and that other donors would not want to deal with him. Ignoring their advice David Cameron went ahead and made David Rowland Tory Treasurer, a role which he accepted, however, before he could take up his post Rowland decided to resign from it.
Political parties are banned from accepting donations from foreign donors so David Rowland had returned to the UK in 2009 to enable him to make a series of donations to the Conservative Party, totalling more than £2m in the run up to the general election.
In January 2011, the private bank of Tory donor David Rowland tried to block the release of documents found in a police fraud raid in Luxembourg.
Investigators believe the files will shed light on the collapse of Icelandic lender Kaupthing, which is under scrutiny over “suspicions of criminal activity”. Is it a coincidence that after they get their hands on this, suddenly the Tchenguiz brothers are arrested?
How come we have the sordid situation where we have Tory donors brothers Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz and David Rowland all connected to the collapsed bank Kaupthing and all have donated large sums to the Conservative party who is now the British government? And what kind of impression is this sending to the world?
These are the kind of people that David Cameron accepts money from and rubs shoulders with while cutting our public services, privatising our NHS, police and education.
The brothers sister Lisa Tchenguiz and her former husband "The man from Delmonte" Vivian Imerman are also donors to the Tory party. Vivian Imerman has donated at least £100,000 to the Conservative Party.
Mr Imerman was a business partner of the Tchenguiz brothers until they barred him from their shared office, after Mr Imerman had sent his chauffeur to collect a £250,000 bulletproof Rolls Royce Phantom which his wife had been using, he was upset that his wife obtained personal information such as medical records and family emails from his hard drive from a computer in the Tchenguiz offices which the Tchenguiz family used to download 20.000 documents
Lord Ashcroft is the Tory peer who was*eventually* was forced to give up his non-dom tax status to remain in the Lords after William Hague famously refused to tell interviewer Jeremy Paxman if he knew Lord Ashcroft has still not complied with registering in this country before becoming a Lord.
How come we have the sordid situation where we have Tory donors brothers Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz and David Rowland all connected to the collapsed bank Kaupthing and all have donated large sums to the Conservative party who is now the British government? And what kind of impression is this sending to the world?
These are the kind of people that David Cameron accepts money from and rubs shoulders with while cutting our public services, privatising our NHS, police and education.
The brothers sister Lisa Tchenguiz and her former husband "The man from Delmonte" Vivian Imerman are also donors to the Tory party. Vivian Imerman has donated at least £100,000 to the Conservative Party.
Mr Imerman was a business partner of the Tchenguiz brothers until they barred him from their shared office, after Mr Imerman had sent his chauffeur to collect a £250,000 bulletproof Rolls Royce Phantom which his wife had been using, he was upset that his wife obtained personal information such as medical records and family emails from his hard drive from a computer in the Tchenguiz offices which the Tchenguiz family used to download 20.000 documents
Lord Ashcroft is the Tory peer who was*eventually* was forced to give up his non-dom tax status to remain in the Lords after William Hague famously refused to tell interviewer Jeremy Paxman if he knew Lord Ashcroft has still not complied with registering in this country before becoming a Lord.
On Prime Minister's Questions - House of Commons
I am wondering what the point of PMQs actually is? Especially under this prime minister? He actually answers nothing, which to be fair isn't that uncommon from sitting prime ministers, but what actually is uncommon is this proclivity of David Cameron's to answer every single question from Ed Miliband and the opposition with an insult and not just any passing insult, Cameron's insults are becoming more vitriolic, barbarous and personal as the pressure he is under grows. I think as Cameron's inability to do the job of pm effectively is really showing and as more people become aware of his incompetence and the general fecklessness of this government, then we can expect more deeply personal insults from Cameron. However, what he should realise is that everytime he does this, he loses the argument immediately. If this is all the PM has in his armoury then God help this country.
Ed Miliband asks questions, as leader of the opposition he is entitled to do so, he asks them in a reasonable way and he, and more importantly *US* are entitled to coherent decent answers from Cameron and not these personal vitriolic comments coupled with Cameron's growing nastiness and arrogance. I am sure Cameron is good in his own subjective, but he really is beginning to grate on the nerves of the rank and file. Ed Miliband is not only showing Cameron's obvious flaws and incompetence as prime minister, he is also clearly showing Cameron's inherent weakness, his 'overriding arrogance' and that is not a pretty sight.
Matt Baker of One Show Asks Cameron "How do You Sleep at Night"?
Downing street spinners had already put their message out about David Cameron appearing on BBC TVs "One Show" as being successful, they should have waited until the end, once again number 10 rushing in like fools have ended up with egg all over their faces.
Check the aghast look on Alex Jones face and hear her gasp as Matt Baker asks Cameron "how do you sleep at night?" I would love to have been a fly on the wall after the credits had rolled, wonder if Cameron had a go at Baker or just stormed off embarrassed?
I suspect that Matt Baker can sleep better at night than David Cameron can.
Cameron said that if " at the end of the day you are exhausted you make rotten decisions", all I can say is that Cameron must be permanently exhausted and this affliction is affecting the entire Tory party and has spread to the Liberal Democrats too, because every single decision they make is rotten to the core as well as being reckless and totally and utterly incompetent.
Obviously this was a barbed comment from Matt Baker and good on him he asked the question that millions in this country would like answered. This clip shows that David Cameron cannot work without a script!
Check the aghast look on Alex Jones face and hear her gasp as Matt Baker asks Cameron "how do you sleep at night?" I would love to have been a fly on the wall after the credits had rolled, wonder if Cameron had a go at Baker or just stormed off embarrassed?
I suspect that Matt Baker can sleep better at night than David Cameron can.
Cameron said that if " at the end of the day you are exhausted you make rotten decisions", all I can say is that Cameron must be permanently exhausted and this affliction is affecting the entire Tory party and has spread to the Liberal Democrats too, because every single decision they make is rotten to the core as well as being reckless and totally and utterly incompetent.
Obviously this was a barbed comment from Matt Baker and good on him he asked the question that millions in this country would like answered. This clip shows that David Cameron cannot work without a script!
The Tories Are Back - Have They Brought BSE With Them?
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| John Gummer MP Tory Agriculture Minister 1989 During BSE Crisis |
The "nasty party" is back, nastier, more self centered and egotistical than ever, however, this is not all, from Cameron down this particular brand of Tories seem to be more stupid than ever making a hash out of everything they do, with shocking gaffes on major policy after major policy and are lurching from one foreign policy disaster to another. it would seem that this entire administration of Tories appear to be suffering some kind of incurable "stupidity disorder". Not only have they returned nastier and more insensate than ever, it would appear that upon their return the Tories may have brought back to the country the potentially fatal "Mad Cows disease". Truly terrifying thought especially because if anything did become of this it could deal a potentially fatal blow to the British economy. This Tory government have substantially weakened and endangered an already fragile recovery with their asinine policies. I have a great fear that it just cannot withstand even the most gentle of breezes, let alone a full scale hurricane like BSE blowing in. I have been having "flashbacks" of 1989 and the then Conservative Agricultural Secretary, John Gummer MP actually feeding what could have been infected beef to his 4 year old daughter in the form of a beefburger for the assembled TV crews and press, while announcing he has delayed a ban on British beef.
Last December (2010) a farmer was jailed for 10 months after being caught trying to pass off an older cow for a younger one. There is a ban on cows born before 1996 being sold for meat because there is a substantial risk of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) to humans. Questions we now have to ask if this is this a one off? I very much doubt it, it would be too much to believe that this particular farmer had been caught on his first attempt to pass off and older cow for a younger one and if he has been doing it, the problem is obviously more widespread. So it appears that along with the return of the Tories, we have a return of greedy Tory farmers "milking" the system and then selling their cattle on for meat, fully aware of the dangers of the potentially fatal risks posed to human health.
How is government going to handle this? Indeed are they handling it, or are they simply ignoring just hoping it will go away? I, and I am sure that others would like to know if the Government's scientists are investigating this and what if anything they have found. The Agriculture minister Jim Paice, has already admitted that others could be involved in similar scams and has said "there is no evidence that meat from older cattle had reached the shops, but it could not be ruled out". So here we have it, how long before France decides it is not going to trust our beef again and bans the import of our cattle? France just waits for any excuse to do this, it means more work and greater rewards for French farmers, it took a Labour government 10 years to sort out the mess the Tories left the British beef industry in, that is ten years before we were able to convince the EU to lift the ban on British beef!
BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), otherwise known as mad cow disease, has mainly affected cattle in the UK, where millions of animals had to be destroyed in the 1990s.
This is very worrying and has the potential to become huge and if it does, how fit and competent is our Government to handle such a crisis? On their performance over the past 10 months, can anyone seriously say they have confidence in this Conservative-led government to do anything properly and efficiently?
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| Two Tory Prats Together Dumb and Gummer |
Despite claiming a total of £87,112 in second home allowance from 2004 to 2008, Mr Gummer maintains that he had one of the lowest overall expenses claims in the House.
Wonder if Gummer has any "Mad Cows" grazing on his land other than Margaret Thatcher?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
David Cameron - Unravelling
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| Cameron Tub-Thumping A Prime Minister Clearly Out Of His Depth |
INDIA - PAKISTAN: He went to India, where he made a speech and upset Pakistan by inferring that they all terrorists who "look both ways", forgetting that the Pakistani president's wife then prime minister of Pakistan and the very much respected Benazir Bhutto was killed by a suicide bomber in a terrorist attack. He may have pleased India, whom he was hoping to trade with, in fact later he managed to help procure a contract for 57 fighter planes for his old mate Dick Olver of BAe, but he upset many people in Pakistan who suffer daily at the hands of terrorists.
USA - While sucking up to the American president, Cameron made a cringing howler of a mistake.
The Americans did not enter the war until after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941."I think it's important in life to speak as it is, and the fact is that we are a very effective partner of the US, but we are the junior partner'. 'We were the junior partner in 1940 when we were fighting the Nazis." David Cameron - Sky News.
TURKEY - ISRAEL: Here he managed to upset Israel and cause further conflict between Turkey and Israel. "After the Israeli Turkel Commission cleared the Israeli soldiers of wrongdoings during last year's deadly raid on a Turkish flotilla bound for Gaza, the relations between Turkey and Israel are strained, however, it is hoped that these once friendly nations can eventually restore diplomatic relations, but this will nit happen if people like David Cameron stir things up by inferring that Gaza is a "prison camp". Great diplomacy is needed in that region and Cameron's gung-ho approach is unhelpful at best and idiotic in the extreme." Cameron also personally pledged to see Turkey admitted to the EU, who is Cameron to make such a pledge and why did he do it? Turkey has some issues regarding human rights and their treatment of women. The EU has been working with Turkey to try and get this ironed out and Cameron breezes in trying to teach those people how to suck eggs and managed to upset them all.
EUROPE: While in opposition Cameron joined a far right group, a hint of his exceedingly appalling judgement to come. He also encouraged Tory MEPs to vote to go easy on the banks.
CHINA; Cameron visited China, wanting to increase trading with them all he succeeded in doing is making a fool of himself. The businessmen he took with with decided they liked China's low taxation system and decided to think about setting up business there, in fact one bank HSBC is seriously considering it, well done Dave! What are china going to want to buy from us in great quantity? They already make cheap and quality items far cheaper than ours, they can because they afford their workers no rights and keep them on low wages to keep costs down, says a lot for Cameron's mates that they actually prefer a country where they can treat the workers disgracefully to keep their own costs down!
If that wasn't bad enough, Dave then gave a speech to carefully selected Chinese students and said to them "why should British students get cheaper tuition fees"? Well I don't know why should they? Perhaps it is because they are British, their parents and grandparents before them paid their taxes and national insurance and our students will go on to do the same, and our taxes are meant to go towards the NHS, welfare, police, defence and *education*?
MIDDLE EAST: Knowing that Tunisia and Egypt had overthrown their governments and that there was trouble in Bahrain and mega trouble brewing in Libya, David Cameron still decided to go on a planned tour of the Middle East, taking his arms dealer mates with him so he could hawk arms and sell them to unstable undemocratic countries. Cameron should have realised that this was not the right time definitely not the right place and cancelled that trip, instead not only did he deliberately embark on arms dealing trip at a time of great unrest in the very region he was going to, he decided to call in on Egypt to be the first Western leader to visit an *INTERIM* government, for what other purpose was this done other than it being a cheap publicity stunt? I would like to know if while he was in Egypt did he discuss doing an arms deal with them?
While he (Cameron) was in Egypt William Hague the Foreign Secretary was back in the UK making bizarre statements about Gaddafi to any passing journalist and TV company, and even though he knew our British citizens were trapped in Libya, Hague did nothing and was still going to on a trip to the States, however, he was forced to cancel a trip to the US at the 11th hour so he could take charge of the country because the Deputy PM who refuses to work past 4 in the afternoon and who was supposed to be in charge of the country actually forgot and anyway he said, someone else would have to do it because he was going off on a skiing holiday. meanwhile Liam Fox the Defence Secretary went off down the pub drinking with his mates.
Time after time after time David Cameron has been caught telling lies!
We just cannot trust this Tory government to act in our best interests and we can believe nothing they say.
During the leadership debates live on TV Cameron said he met a 40-year-old man who had served in the Navy for 30 years, unless he was 10 at the time and our youngest serving officer - Cameron lied and despite attempts, that person has never been traced.
The PM once told an interviewer that he has a penchant for war movies and has watched Where Eagles Dare no less than 17 times! Really? Is this some kind of reason why Cameron has acted with shockingly poor judgement over Libya? Is this why he and William Hague sent in members of our supposed elite forced unprepared into some crazy "who dares wins" stunt, that was completely and utterly unnecessary? This whole unfortunate incident ended with our people being released thank God, but if it was Gaddafi's men who had seen them arriving in the dead of night in a helicopter, it would have been a whole different story.
This incompetent feckless Tory-led government has been repeatedly exposed as totally out of its depth, poor judgement and appalling fecklessness, to the point where they actually put British lives at risk, both in this crazy unnecessary covert operation and in not acting sooner to get our nationals out of Libya, the country was deteriorating and the government did absolutely nothing. Cameron was caught wanting and dithering and his dithering almost cost lives. Not only is this Tory-led government wholly disjointed and incapable of handling domestic policy as we have all witnessed with so many major U turns over major policies, they are absolutely incapable of handling foreign policy and are totally unfit and incapable of handling a major international challenge.
Libya is in the throes of a civil war and as such was even more unstable and dangerous than usual, for Cameron and Hague to have dithered and acted in this fashion and for Cameron to keep making inflammatory statements while at the same time sending our troops in under resourced, unprepared and under pressure from this government, is an error that could have so easily proved fatal.
Cameron sent in those troops so he could be attempt to smother himself in glory and the flag of war, this is the reason why they were pushed into such a situation so quickly, Cameron thought this was a good way to dig himself out of a hole and it backfired badly.
Not only is Cameron acting with gross negligence, he is also cutting our armed forces to the bone, making thousands of soldiers redundant and then he commits us to an act of war by loose talking about implementing no fly zones, which thanks to him we have no way of supporting. We cannot get involved in no fly zones because Cameron and the Tories have got rid of all our planes and aircraft carriers! Just how much of an idiot is David Cameron? Cameron is the only PM in history of this country who has managed to get 8 of our elite squad of soldiers detained by "friendly" rebels and highly sensitive conversations between this country and opposition forces in Libya broadcast on Libyan State TV, how utterly embarrassing.
It is clear, not only are we being governed by a government of half-wits, we also have prime minister in David Cameron, who is clearly out of his depth, how long can Britain go on like this?
how long can the Liberal Democrats and that other feckless numpty Nick Clegg carry on propping this atrocious incompetent and reckless government up?
It is clear that this is Tory led regime is losing the consent of then British people and the Liberal Democrats should stop propping the Tories up now and force them to call a general election, if they do not and they keep enabling this government to carry on like this, then they truly will be wiped out and they will deserve to be.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Another List of Tory Donors (Ones That Exploit Loopholes)
The Tories really Are All In It Together!
I've concentrated on the Midlands but "rogue" elements will appear. I have researched and brought the MIC subject up again now because Cameron is right about one thing "Lobbying is the next big scandal waiting to happen" (and he should know! Apologies it is a long read, but impossible to get it all in otherwise and there is much that I was forced to leave out. I think as you read you will see a clear pattern emerging now that we have the benefit of hindsight!
David Cameron - British Prime Minister - Found guilty of Cash for Access row by sleaze watchdog
Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has ruled that David Cameron and his MPs are guilty of widespread abuse by using House of Commons and Lord's dining rooms to raise cash for party funds to fight marginal seats.
Parliamentary dinners with Cameron and other MPs were offered in exchange for hefty donations to Tory Party funds - clearly against anti-sleaze rules.
As well as ruling that Cameron and other Tories flouted Palace of Westminster rules over 'cash for access' dinners, the Parliamentary watch-dog also rebuked them for producing leaflets which advertised regular meetings in Cameron’s Commons office in exchange for a political donation of £50,000 a year.
The Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges ruled that the Tory leader had been "ill-advised" in entertaining members of £50,000 a year Tory donors' clubs.
19 May 2008, a helicopter from Crewe to London provided by Bearwood Corporate Services Ltd, (Lord Ashcroft) Southampton. (Registered 16 June 2008)
In the last ten years, Bearwood Corporate Services has donated over £5 million to the Conservative Party. The Commission had to consider three issues: whether Bearwood was a permissible donor, whether Bearwood was acting as an agent for Lord Ashcroft, and whether the Conservative Party has fulfilled its duty to ensure compliance with the party funding laws. The unsurprising ruling came when the Electoral Commission ruled that the donations were legal. Yet again this commission has ruled in favour of the Tory party under dubious circumstances. If they had ruled against, it would have caused an unprecedented storm in the 2010 general election. The Commission took almost a year to rule!
16 August 2008, private plane from Farnborough to Istanbul for my wife and two children. Then from Istanbul to Santorini, and return to Dalaman, for myself, my wife and two children; provided by Matthew Freud, of London. (Registered 15 September 2008)
13 October 2008, a helicopter from London to West Yorkshire and return, provided by Mr David Ross, of London. (Registered 29 October 2008)
7 November 2008, private plane from Glasgow to Gatwick, provided by Malcolm Scott, of Kirknewton, West Lothian. (Registered 2 December 2008
In my capacity as Leader of the Conservative Party, I have accepted Honorary Membership for life of the Carlton Club.
My wife and I received tickets for the Conservative Party's 'Black and White Party' on 4 February 2009, paid for by Prince Rupert Loewenstein. (Registered 3 March 2009)
Overseas visits
Address of donor: Rochester, Staffordshire, ST14 5JP
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £5,875 for a helicopter flight from Rhyl to London
Date of receipt of donation: 6 November 2009
George (Gideon) Osborne - British Conservative Chancellor
George Osborne employs a firm of accountants to help him wriggle out of paying £1.6 million in tax to the UK Treasury, which he himself runs.
Below are firms of accountants that George Osborne has had dealings with, they do not necessarily donate cash to him, but what they do is provide free of charge teams of top accountants which would run into the many thousands to hire.
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: in my capacity as shadow chancellor I and another Conservative Party MP receive support from Deloitte LLP in the form of services and advice provided in connection with the Eggar Report.
Deloitte LLP has provided these services and advice as part of a larger donation in kind to the Conservative Party. Deloitte LLP's work has an estimated value of £60,000 for the period October 2009-January 2010, which will be reported to the Electoral Commission by the Conservative Party.
(George Campion listed below MIC member, was once a senior partner in Deloitte LLP)
The Conservatives have received hundreds of thousands of pounds of free accounting advice as they prepare for government, raising accusations that they are too close to contacts in the City of London.
Britain’s biggest consultancy firms — which include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG — have seconded some of their staff to Tory MPs.
Accenture, Technology and Consulting Firm - David T Mowat - Elected as Conservative MP for Warrington South on May 6 2010. Born and raised in the Midlands.
Won by 1,553 votes. It is the first time in 23 years a Tory has won this seat.
Companies: Accenture, the technology and consulting Firm -Finally became Global Managing Partner.
David Mowat pictured right with Catherine Beardshaw outgoing Chief Executive of Warrington & Halton NHS Trust, at the NHS awards - Wonder if he Approves of the full-scale privatisation of the NHS, better still do his constituents?
David Mowat has spoken out against the "Labour" Government's proposed polyclinics which he said would result in closing small GP practices. Then what does Mr Mowat have to say about his government's GP Consortia, which for sure will close small GP practices and may end up putting whole practices out of businesses?
Mr Mowat said the main priority of his as MP is to increase NHS funding for Warrington which currently receives a lower-than-average amount, I think his constituents are entitled to know if he is going to back the Government's NHS Reforms and help vote it through parliament? It is doubtful his constituents would back the privatisation of the NHS, they should keep an eye on what he is voting for.
Mr Mowat describes his tenure at Accenture as a success, was he still there when Accenture was the company that gave up two failing NHS contracts and then tried to paper over the cracks and claimed it had all been a roaring success? Mr Mowat retired in 2006 and in 2006 after months of negotiations, Accenture handed contracts worth £2bn over to rival Computer Sciences Corporation after getting paid just £110m for spending a third of the allotted 10 years on the job. Its hand had been forced by losses of $450m it was set to make on the deal this year.
Accenture delivered nearly 800 systems of varying styles and complexity to NHS trusts in the two English regions it was accountable to under the Local Service Provider (LSP) contracts it held with Connecting for Health (CfH), the NHS IT agency. And here is a little piece (snipped from the main source) I found quite interesting: Accenture had concentrated primarily on implementing GP systems! Mmm, very handy, considering how the Conservative government are now concentrating on GP Commissioning and Consortia!
Questions:
Cash Donations To Warrington South, Conservative Party
Uxbridge Portcullis Club (Private Business Club) - Alexander John Randall MP (known as John Randall) Conservative MP Uxbridge and South Ruislip Conservative Deputy Chief Whip received a £15.250 cash donation from the Uxbridge Portcullis Club in 2006. Mr Randall is financially sponsored by the Portcullis Club to be a member of parliament. The Portcullis Club is a 'private business club'. So is John Randall somehow paid twice for being an MP?
Nothing that I can see links them with the MIC, however as the "club" is private this information is not in the public domain, only the fact that the Portcullis Club and Tory MP MR Randall appear to be exploiting the same loophole in order to remain out of public scrutiny is the only link that I can find.
Mr Randall appears in Register of Members Interests:
Registrable shareholdings *Randalls of Uxbridge Ltd. Aquila Termeszetvedelmi Es Idegenforgalmi KFT (Aquila Nature Conservation and Tourist Ltd.); Hungarian eco-tourism company.
Voted YES to selling off our forests!
Midlands Industrial Council - The Yews, 3 High Street, Bassingham Village, Lincolnshire - Looks pretty inconspicuous, but out of it flows considerable financial support for the Conservative party.
The Midlands Industrial Council was formed in 1946, its goal is to lobby the Government on behalf of Midlands business interests
When Conservative Central Office needs a new computer system or the Conservative association in a crucial marginal needs campaign funds, it is to the yews they go, or more accurately Midlands Industrial Council (MIC) Helicopters are available, or money for a building survey. MIC is made up of more than 30 businessmen who make up the council, their total worth is estimated at well over £4 billion. The council members are rich, want results in return for their generosity and they like their privacy. However, it stands accused of being little more than a front organisation for rich businessmen looking to funnel large amounts of cash into the Conservative Party, without the inconvenience of their names becoming public or having to endure the attached scrutiny. *Some* of the names of the MIC have been revealed, however, the amounts they donate and where the money went and to whom and what it was used for is still shrouded in Conservative mystery.
Membership is exclusive, being invitation only. Members meet about five times a year, go to Westminster to lobby and each year discuss with Mr Wall the amount they want to give to the Tories. The fund varies with the political cycle but is usually in six figures.
Mr Wall confesses there is a Euro-sceptic element to the MIC group and they are not keen on what they call "Brussels bureaucracy." They are also not keen on some of the health and safety laws introduced in recent years. They also want lower taxes and they want the minimum wage set at a level "which the market can afford".
So the MIC Doesn't influence policy? - In June 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron has appointed Lord Young to review Health and Safety law David Cameron spoke of the rise in the so-called “compensation culture” and said "We need a sensible new approach that makes clear these laws are intended to protect people, not overwhelm businesses with red tape. I look forward to receiving Lord Young's recommendations on how we can best achieve that."
His comments were made despite the fact that the previous government commissioned independent research into this issue of whether a “compensation culture” has developed and found that one does not exist.
So the MIC doesn't try to influence policy? Most members of MIC are also members of the Tax Payers Alliance who "coincidentally" think along with the Tory-led government that public sector pensions need reforming. Question is why are these *private sector* companies poking their nose into *public sector pensions*? Why are they trying to "influence" government policy on public sector pay? One of the many slogans to emerge from the Taxpayers Alliance is that "Better Government, Better Services through Better Policy NOT Bigger Budgets" Now where have I heard this before? Sounds suspiciously like Cameron's "Big Society" where he wants to sack local authority workers, send them to the Job Centre, then have them sent back to the job they have been sacked from, to carry out their old job for approximately £1.60 per hour (Job Seekers Allowance) if they refuse then their JSA is stopped. I wonder if any of MIC members would consider working for less than the minimum wage? And talking about the minimum wage MIC members want it set lower. Tax Payers Alliance AKA MIC members really do have a bee in their bonnets about council executives leaving one job taking their pension and starting another! A bit like they all do in the private sector with all their "golden hellos, golden goodbyes; golden handshakes; gold-plated pensions; golden bonuses etc on top of their extremely sold gold annual salaries. A bit like "don't do as we do, do as we tell you, you plebs". Another little gem from the Taxpayers Alliance is the way they really like this government's intention to privatise ALL of our public services and try to make out like it is in the public's interest all those MIC members (and others) will get to get their hands on NHS contracts, police, fire services, education etc. What is not to like for them? This Tory-led government intend to use outsourcing companies in their rush to privatise Britain and many MIC members and taxpayers Alliance members are (yes you guessed) *outsourcing companies*. Who said that MIC members do not want to influence government policy?
The TPA's links to the Conservatives include monthly meetings where speakers have included Eric Pickles, the Conservative party chairman, Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, and Daniel Hannan, the Tory Eurosceptic MEP who recently claimed the NHS was "a 60-year mistake".
MIC - Coleshill connection
The exclusive conversation with the Politics Show in the West Midlands took place at the HQ of Coleshill Campaigning Services, a call centre operation based at Coleshill Manor in Warwickshire.
The Coleshill operation targets voters in key marginal constituencies on behalf of the Tories and has received £1.1m from the MIC in the last two years.
The Manor is owned by MIC member Robert Edmiston.
But even though this web of business links leads back to the Conservatives at every turn, Mr Wall denies that the MIC has an overt influence in candidate selection for the party.
MIC helps to fund the Conservative Party's national election nerve centre at Coleshill, Warwickshire, to the tune of about £1 million a year (which is owned by Bob Edmiston.
Political parties have been legally required since 2001 to reveal the identities of all backers who contribute more than £5,000.
The loophole the Conservatives have exploited: As an unincorporated association, the MIC does not have to publish accounts or disclose the names of its members.
MIC is an “unincorporated association” which means unlike companies or charities, it does not have to publish accounts or disclose its backers.
Businessmen who join MIC become ‘members for life’.
When in opposition most shadow ministers have attended MIC meetings and George Bridges, Cameron’s head of campaigns, is in regular contact with MIC.
MIC meets up to five times a year in hotels or at the office of Edmiston. Members are charged a subscription and many choose to make far larger donations
So who are the members of the MIC?
MIC's secretary - David Wall is the Secretary of the Midlands Industrial Council. Mr Wall is a director within the IM Group, which is owned by Bob Edmiston.
David Wall said: "We like to have to have the voice of business heard so that MPs and candidates have a full appreciation of what impact their decisions have on the business community."
Sir Anthony Bamford - President MIC
Sir Anthony is the Chairman of the world famous digger company JCB, which has its headquarters at Rochester in Staffordshire. He is President of the Midlands Industrial Council. In September David Cameron was garlanded with flowers as he joined Sir Anthony to open a new £25m JCB factory in India. The links between JCB and the Conservative party go back many years. He is also a supporter of the Tax Payers Alliance. He was knighted in 1990. He was also part of George Osborne's round Robin letter condemning Labour's proposed National Insurance Contribution increase. Since Cameron assumed power, the Tories halted the NICs rise for employers, while raising national insurance contributions for employees, again reneging on yet another election promise.
According to The Guardian, JCB Group pays the shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, £50,000 a year as its parliamentary adviser. David Cameron and Francis Maude, the Tory chairman, have used its helicopters.
Sir Anthony also took part in the more recent trade delegation to India in July 2010 headed by David Cameron, where Cameron caused controversy with Pakistan when Cameron decided to infer that the Pakistanis "looked both ways" and virtually accused them all of being terrorists, completely forgetting (if he ever knew) that the Pakistani presidents wife was herself murdered by a terrorist attack, by terrorists aggrieved at the way their government allows Allied Forces to use the Pakistani Border with Afghanistan!
Incidentally, in 2008, David Cameron also found time in a busy schedule of photo-opportunities to open a JCB factory in India for Sir Anthony Bamford senior member of MIC! Anthony Bamford has donated over £1 million to the Conservative party.
Bob Edmiston - MIC Member is the founder of the hugely successful IM Group which is based in West Bromwich and imports cars from the Far East. IM also has a large property portfolio which includes Coleshill Manor, the base for Coleshill Campaigning Services. Mr Edmiston is the Chairman of the MIC. He also finances Christian Vision, a non-profit charitable company. Mr Edmiston has also given £4m to city academy schools projects in Solihull and Coventry. Personal wealth said to be around £400 million. 'Spose he won't have to worry about buying a carton of milk for his kids then?
Steve Hollis - KPMG - MIC Member
Mr Hollis is head of UK and Europe, Middle East and Africa markets at the accountancy firm KPMG and is a member of the firm's UK board. Accountancy Age describes him as "one of 22 senior figures who advise chief executive John Griffith-Jones on the firm's strategy".
George Campion - MIC Member
George Campion was a senior tax partner in Deloitte's Birmingham office. According to the company website, he worked "extensively in the area of real estate transactions analysing both the corporation tax and commercial implications. His clients included large multinational groups".
J Brian Pettifer - MIC Member (Mr Pettifer is camera shy - no images of him in public domain)
J Brian Pettifer is Chairman and Chief Executive of the Pettifer Group. This organisation was formed in 1955 and, still in private ownership, is a major force in property development, construction, consultancy and web-based applications. It employs in the region of 300 staff, operating throughout the UK. Subsidiary companies operate from London (Mayfair and Clerkenwell), Solihull, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow. Pettifer Group is a Warwickshire based property development company with an office in Mayfair and develops edge of town retail parks.
Pettifer's company ran into trouble over a Welsh Sign which translated to "gibberish""The safety notice by developers Pettifer Construction was put up outside a new store being built near Morrisons in the Anglesey port town.
It is meant to warn passersby about the dangers on the site, in order to protect the public from accidents. In English, the sign’s overriding message: “You are now entering a safety zone”, in fact, reads in Welsh: “Act hourly noting a comfortable belt.”
Mr Pettifer is a supporter of the Tax Payers Alliance.
Tony Gallagher - MIC Member
Tony Gallagher is Chairman of Gallagher UK. Gallagher Developments is the group's commercial property development and investment arm. Gallagher Estates is the residential arm. Gallagher is a private company with substantial cash-reserves and no borrowings, according to the company's website. "This, together with an extensive development programme and land bank, places Gallagher in a relatively unique position in the Development Industry". April 2010 Gallagher Developments pulled the sale of its Junction 9 retail park in the West Midlands after raising £150m in "off market" transactions. The plan to sell was a rare one for Gallagher, a long-term investor and developer.
Estimated personal wealth put at around £500 million.
Roy Richardson- MIC Member
Roy Richardson, with his late twin brother Don, is the man behind the highly successful Richardson Developments real estate company. Proud of their Black Country roots they developed the Merry Hill hopping centre in the 1980s and Birmingham's Star City leisure complex. His brother and he have made no secret of making loans, and in April told the BBC he made donations to Labour and the Conservatives "to give the region a stronger voice with those in power".
Keith Bradshaw - MIC Member
Keith Bradshaw is an accountant and non-executive chairman of the Wolverhampton-based property group Nurton Developments. Established a number of private companies, the foremost of which, BP Nursing Homes Ltd, became Takare PLC/Care First Group PLC, which was sold to BUPA in January 1998 for approximately £300m. Other business interests include Listers of Coventry and Urbancube.
Personal wealth estimated £150 million
1997 - Mr Bradshaw, has had a turbulent history. Mr Bradshaw was criticised for growing the company, initially called Takare before it merged with Mr Patel's Court Cavendish company last year, too quickly.
Richard Smith is the Managing Director of H.R.Smith Group, which is based at Leominster in Herefordshire. The group includes the company Techtest. Products include a range of hi-tech radio and electrical equipment used in search and rescue. Is below the kind of business that HRSmith group will be bidding for?
Member of the Taxpayers Alliance.
Chris Kelly - Vice-Chairmen of the MIC
Chris Kelly is based in West Bromwich. He formed Scania Keltruck Limited in 1983. The company employs around 500 people. He is one of three Vice-Chairmen of the MIC. He is also open about his political views. He is on the list of business supporters of Open Europe and is on the Business Council of the TaxPayers Alliance. Mr Kelly was a member of the Conservative Party's Midlands Regional Finance Board, the West Midlands Council of Business for Sterling
David Cameron is being accused of rewarding Tory donors with free publicity. The charge came after he went to the training centre for trucking firm Scania to publicise an announcement on new apprenticeships.
Scania’s UK distributor is businessman Chris Kelly, the deputy chairman of a donors group called the Midlands Industrial Council, which has given £561,780 to the Conservatives since Mr Cameron became the leader. (This amount may have increased since this was reported) Who said that MIC members do not want to influence government policy?
On the Business Council of the TaxPayers Alliance.
Leavesley Group MIC Members (no picture available)
James and John Leavesley, are based at Alrewas in Staffordshire. The family-run Leavesley Group dates back to 1919. The group has grown and diversified into a number of sectors. These include property and agricultural activities, surplus equipment, machinery and vehicle sales, shipping containers, petrol retailing and farm quality assurance and inspection. John Leavesley is also a supporter of the TaxPayers Alliance, which lobbies the Government to reduce taxes.
Lowe & Fletcher Ltd - Corporate member of the MIC
Lowe & Fletcher Ltd is a corporate member of the MIC. From a small locksmith's shop founded in Willenhall, in the Black Country in 1889, the Lowe and Fletcher and Euro-locks Group has grown into a world-leading specialist in the design and manufacture of locking, says the company website. Now based in Wednesbury it also has factories in Europe and the United States.
Peter Shirley - MIC Member
Peter Shirley is the owner and Managing Director of Midland Chilled Foods. The company began in 1976 at Willenhall in the Black Country. It now comprises three companies, Midland Chilled Foods Ltd., Midland Pie Products Ltd. and Midland Food Group Ltd, has a turnover well in excess of £35m and employs nearly 200 people. When the Midland Food Group, opened a new chilled foods factory in Basingstoke, Hampshire it was opened by David Cameron, then the leader of the opposition. Peter Shirley said:
R. Robinson - MIC Member
Robert Robinson, founder of the Warwickshire firm of Robinsons
Kambiz Jaberi - MIC Member
Kambiz Jaberi is chairman and Managing Director of Karins Catering Group of Bilston. They supply food to 14 airports. Clients include British Airways CitiExpress, Flybe, Alpha Catering Services, Gate Gourmet International, Citynet Catering, First Choice Airways & West Midlands Police. Most popular sandwich: Roast Chicken on Poppy bread. Mr Jaberi was involved in the Vote No campaign against the UK signing the European Constitution and supports TaxPayers Alliance.
Kim Jaberi told the Sunday Times:
Tessa Miller & Michael Miller - MIC Members
Michael Miller is Chairman of the Harris & Sheldon Group Ltd which has wide-ranging interests including automotive component manufacturing and fishing tackle manufacturing. The company is based at Packington Park, Meriden, near Coventry. Michael Miller has been involved with both the TaxPayers Alliance and Vote No to the EU Constitution campaigns.
Involved with Taxpayers Alliance
Graham Hampson Silk - MIC Member
Graham Hampson Silk sold his stake in Wolverhampton and Blackpool airports for £15m. He was previously involved in the film industry and was credited as executive producer of children's fantasy movie Rainbow and British comedies The Sea Change and Shooting Fish. He was named as the "one to watch", in a business industry profile in 2001 which added: "his day job is at Hampson Industries, a group of aerospace engineering businesses with annual turnover approaching £100m". 'Mr Silk said... the organisation was simply a group that existed to lobby for a better deal for Midland businesses.' (He forgot to mention that they are strongly Eurosceptic and nearly all are members of the Taxpayers Alliance, that want our public sector reduced, our National insurance contributions to go up and our taxes to rise, while theirs fall)
Constantine Folkes
Constantine Folkes
Constantine Folkes is the Chairman and Chief Executive of Folkes Holdings. Folkes Holdings has engineering and real estate interests. His company is one of the largest commercial landlords in the Black Country and also has real estate interests in South Africa. The company's engineering operations are conducted at Somers Forge in Halesowen. Folkes Holdings went private in 2003 and is now 91% owned by Constantine Folkes. The company traces its origins to an 18th Century blacksmith shop in Lye. Mr Folkes supports the TaxPayers Alliance.
Sir Eric Pountain
He died at the age of 70 in 2003. He built Tarmac into one of the UK's biggest house builders. Born in Cannock Chase he went to school in Walsall. He is credited with coming up with the idea of the "show home" to sell properties on new estates. In the 1980s Tarmac was a prominent donor to the Conservative party. Was also chairman later of IMI Metals. He was knighted in 1985.
Gareth Davies
Former chairman of Glynwed International, which is most famous for its Aga kitchen products. Mr Davies retired after 40 years service with the company in the late 1990s. Glowing tributes by colleagues described his contribution to the business as "immense".
Gary Allen
Mr Allen succeeded Sir Eric Pountain as the chairman of IMI Metals. He joined the company in 1965, became Chief Exec in 1986 and Chairman in 2001. He was awarded the CBE in 1991. He retired from IMI in 2004.
Julie Kirkbride, The Disgraced Former Midlands Conservative MP, admits to previously undisclosed links with a controversial organisation which has donated millions of pounds to the Conservative party.
The former Bromsgrove MP has been revealed as an "ex-officio" member of the secretive Midlands Industrial Council (MIC) after an investigation by the Politics Show in the West Midlands.
There is no published record of Ms Kirkbride's connections to the organisation, even though she has now confirmed she is the "link person" between the MIC and the Conservative party in parliament.
Ms Kirkbride's name emerged after the MIC said it was going to continue to conceal the identity of its members in future unless there is a change in the law.
Other MPs have gone to prison for a lot less than Julie Kirkbride and her husband have done over their expense claims, yet the shamed former Tory MP has landed a lucrative job in the lobbying industry days after being forced to quit the Commons because of public anger over her expenses.
Miss Kirkbride, 49, was appointed as a consultant to the Westminster-based lobbying firm Tetra Strategy on a salary rumoured to be approaching £100,000.
Last year her former MP husband Andrew Mackay, who was also embroiled in the expenses scandal, landed a six-figure salary post as ‘international consultant’ to the lobbying giant Burston-Marsteller.
The MIC was accused of being a clearinghouse for donations to the Tory party, and possibly open to challenge under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.
Between April 16, 2003, and March 14, 2006, the Conservative Party received 52 donations from the MIC totalling £968,690. This amount has increased massively in recent years leading up to and beyond the May 2010 general election.
This list begs almost as many questions as it answers. How much did each of them give exactly?
Where did that money go? Was it used to buy influence over Conservative policy? Remember Stuart Wheeler the Conservative millionaire donor spread better, now UKIP member? He says it is perfectly reasonable to expect that business leaders donating large sums to the Tory party do so with the view of influencing policy. Mr Wheeler has himself donated over £3 million to the Conservative party.
And what about the people who have given money in the past - or may do so in the future who will still be able to slip quietly behind the veil of anonymity?
Currently despite David Cameron's promise of "new and transparent politics" the laws as it stands, does not require a breakdown of figures from the MIC as it is an unincorporated association - effectively, a private club, or any other association like it. *Just like the Portcullis club* this is how the Conservative party is managing to protect so many of their big financial donors from scrutiny.
It is not the first time that David Cameron has been accused of returning "favours" for photo opportunities etc and whilst one individual photo op or another incident may seem innocuous, the question here is about the regularity with which such connections exist and the number which he does. During the May 2010 general election campaign, David Cameron was again pictured in front of a row of JCBs, Jewsons; the Tory leader has been seen at B&Q, Warburtons, Bestway, Fuller’s brewery and Jewsons – and has often been pictured with the relevant company’s logo clearly visible.
Nothing unusual there. Apart from the fact, the chief executives of all these firms have publicly backed the Tories’ cynical attempt to win votes by promising to halt a scheduled rise in National Insurance.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has also got in on the act by visiting the headquarters of easyJet, whose founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou also supports Mr Cameron’s NI policy.
Cameron even mentioned Mothercare in the House of Commons and his wife Sam wore a Marks and Spencer frock during campaigning, but it turned out the frock had been made to measure for her. Sir Stuart Rose was then the MD of Marks and a Cameron supporter, who signed the NICs letter.
"The Conservative party have exploited a loophole in the law that allows unincorporated associations, such as the Midlands Industrial Council and the Uxbridge Portcullis Club, to give many thousands of pounds to local constituency associations without the latter accounting for that or provide any details about who was behind those shady organisations until it was forced out of them."
Big business is behind this Tory-led government without a shadow of a doubt, just a cursory look through all the information I have provided you will see a clear pattern emerging which has been taking shape since David Cameron became the Conservative leader.
It almost blatant, big business does not donate millions of pounds to a political party without expecting some influence over policy and the information I have provided you can actually see it very clearly. The Tories will point straight away to the unions and the Labour party but one this does not excuse what they are doing and d two, the unions are very regulated bodies made up out of thousands of members, they are not close unregulated unincorporated bodies made up out of secret members donating obscene amounts to the Tory party hoping to change policy and influence policy in favour of their own companies.
In return for their huge financial donations David Cameron has been opening their new companies, both here and abroad and during the 2010 election campaign Cameron managed to have photo opportunities in front of a row of JCBs, in front of trays of Warburton's bread, Jewson trucks in the background, B&Q, Mothercare, Marks and Spencers, it just goes on and on and Cameron even mentions his friends companies during prime minister's question time.
In a speech, in February 2010 David Cameron warned that lobbying was ‘the next big scandal waiting to happen’. Well, he should know!
Lobbying is the next big scandal waiting to happen... an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money... And we all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way…"
He also said: “I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics.”.
Yet, as the Observer reveals, some of his party’s current crop of prospective MPs aren't being fully transparent with voters about their links to the lobbying industry!
Cameron promised us transparent politics, but all we have had from him is the shadiest dirty corrupt looking behaviour, far worse than anything seen in parliament since the last time the Tories were in power, at least it took those successive Tory governments 18 years to get to the point where they were mired in sleaze, it has taken this Tory government less than 8 months and the lies, broken promises and deliberate misleading of parliament and the British people almost on a daily basis from this Tory government is astonishing!
I have omitted from this post about arms dealers and oil companies, as the post is too long already, as for the links to the lobbying of the NHS for contracts, well that is a book waiting to be written! However, have no fear these subjects will be covered at some point in the near future.
I've concentrated on the Midlands but "rogue" elements will appear. I have researched and brought the MIC subject up again now because Cameron is right about one thing "Lobbying is the next big scandal waiting to happen" (and he should know! Apologies it is a long read, but impossible to get it all in otherwise and there is much that I was forced to leave out. I think as you read you will see a clear pattern emerging now that we have the benefit of hindsight!
Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has ruled that David Cameron and his MPs are guilty of widespread abuse by using House of Commons and Lord's dining rooms to raise cash for party funds to fight marginal seats.
Parliamentary dinners with Cameron and other MPs were offered in exchange for hefty donations to Tory Party funds - clearly against anti-sleaze rules.
As well as ruling that Cameron and other Tories flouted Palace of Westminster rules over 'cash for access' dinners, the Parliamentary watch-dog also rebuked them for producing leaflets which advertised regular meetings in Cameron’s Commons office in exchange for a political donation of £50,000 a year.
The Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges ruled that the Tory leader had been "ill-advised" in entertaining members of £50,000 a year Tory donors' clubs.
Mr Cameron apologised "unreservedly" for breaking the MPs' code of conduct. He confirmed that he had hosted seven meetings of the Conservative "Leaders' Group" in his office suite in the House of Commons, and pledged that the lunches "will not happen again".
The dinners for wealthy donors sparked a "cash for access" row, amid claims that Mr Cameron was offering the perk of lunches at the Commons in return for major donations.
Days after Cameron became Tory leader, his constituency association in Witney received a £5,500 cheque from MIC. (Midlands Industrial Club)
Register of Members Interests June 2009
David Cameron listed as receiving helicopter and private plane travel from the following:Days after Cameron became Tory leader, his constituency association in Witney received a £5,500 cheque from MIC. (Midlands Industrial Club)
Register of Members Interests June 2009
- JCB Research
- Harris Ventures Ltd
- IPGL Ltd
- Henfield Lodge Aviation Ltd, London
- William Cook Holdings, Sheffield (Andrew Cook who named himself as the largest donor to the Tories in Yorkshire, was the businessman who successfully lobbied Conservative Ministers to pull back on their promise of a Government loan to Sheffield Forgemasters, a company that Mr Cook has tried to buy several times) The Deputy PM, Nick Clegg, has since been found to have deliberately mislead the House in his explanations of why the Government chose not to go ahead with the loan, but it is still unclear what (if any) action has been taken against him.
19 May 2008, a helicopter from Crewe to London provided by Bearwood Corporate Services Ltd, (Lord Ashcroft) Southampton. (Registered 16 June 2008)
In the last ten years, Bearwood Corporate Services has donated over £5 million to the Conservative Party. The Commission had to consider three issues: whether Bearwood was a permissible donor, whether Bearwood was acting as an agent for Lord Ashcroft, and whether the Conservative Party has fulfilled its duty to ensure compliance with the party funding laws. The unsurprising ruling came when the Electoral Commission ruled that the donations were legal. Yet again this commission has ruled in favour of the Tory party under dubious circumstances. If they had ruled against, it would have caused an unprecedented storm in the 2010 general election. The Commission took almost a year to rule!
16 August 2008, private plane from Farnborough to Istanbul for my wife and two children. Then from Istanbul to Santorini, and return to Dalaman, for myself, my wife and two children; provided by Matthew Freud, of London. (Registered 15 September 2008)
13 October 2008, a helicopter from London to West Yorkshire and return, provided by Mr David Ross, of London. (Registered 29 October 2008)
7 November 2008, private plane from Glasgow to Gatwick, provided by Malcolm Scott, of Kirknewton, West Lothian. (Registered 2 December 2008
In my capacity as Leader of the Conservative Party, I have accepted Honorary Membership for life of the Carlton Club.
My wife and I received tickets for the Conservative Party's 'Black and White Party' on 4 February 2009, paid for by Prince Rupert Loewenstein. (Registered 3 March 2009)
Overseas visits
- 28-31 January 2009, to Davos, Switzerland, to attend and participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. The World Economic Forum provided my conference pass, occasional car use in Davos (including airport transfers) and some hospitality. The return part of my journey was made by private plane from Altenrhein, Switzerland, to RAF Northolt, provided by IPGL Limited, London. (My outward journey was paid for by the Conservative Party.) UBS also provided occasional car use in Davos. (Registered 13 February 2009)
- I have been given a decorative sterling silver casket by Lord and Lady Harris. (Registered 9 March 2009)
- Gift of a sterling silver tray from President George W Bush, President of the United States, (Registered 16 June 2008)
- Following my official visit to Pakistan in September 2008, I have been given a rug by former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mian Muhammad Nazaz Sharif, of the Pakistan Muslim League. (Registered 19 November 2008)
- Gift of a Harrods hamper from the Sultan of Brunei. (Registered 18 December 2008)
- Gift of a fountain pen and half-suite cufflinks and studs, provided by His Majesty Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain. (Registered 6 May 2009)
Address of donor: Rochester, Staffordshire, ST14 5JP
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £5,875 for a helicopter flight from Rhyl to London
Date of receipt of donation: 6 November 2009
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| George Osborne British Conservative Party Chancellor Pay Your Taxes |
George Osborne employs a firm of accountants to help him wriggle out of paying £1.6 million in tax to the UK Treasury, which he himself runs.
Below are firms of accountants that George Osborne has had dealings with, they do not necessarily donate cash to him, but what they do is provide free of charge teams of top accountants which would run into the many thousands to hire.
Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: in my capacity as shadow chancellor I and another Conservative Party MP receive support from Deloitte LLP in the form of services and advice provided in connection with the Eggar Report.
Deloitte LLP has provided these services and advice as part of a larger donation in kind to the Conservative Party. Deloitte LLP's work has an estimated value of £60,000 for the period October 2009-January 2010, which will be reported to the Electoral Commission by the Conservative Party.
(George Campion listed below MIC member, was once a senior partner in Deloitte LLP)
The Conservatives have received hundreds of thousands of pounds of free accounting advice as they prepare for government, raising accusations that they are too close to contacts in the City of London.
Britain’s biggest consultancy firms — which include PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG — have seconded some of their staff to Tory MPs.
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| David Mowat At NHS Awards |
Won by 1,553 votes. It is the first time in 23 years a Tory has won this seat.
Heroine - "Margaret Thatcher, due to the fact she got things done"
Companies: Accenture, the technology and consulting Firm -Finally became Global Managing Partner.
David Mowat pictured right with Catherine Beardshaw outgoing Chief Executive of Warrington & Halton NHS Trust, at the NHS awards - Wonder if he Approves of the full-scale privatisation of the NHS, better still do his constituents?
David Mowat has spoken out against the "Labour" Government's proposed polyclinics which he said would result in closing small GP practices. Then what does Mr Mowat have to say about his government's GP Consortia, which for sure will close small GP practices and may end up putting whole practices out of businesses?
Mr Mowat said the main priority of his as MP is to increase NHS funding for Warrington which currently receives a lower-than-average amount, I think his constituents are entitled to know if he is going to back the Government's NHS Reforms and help vote it through parliament? It is doubtful his constituents would back the privatisation of the NHS, they should keep an eye on what he is voting for.
Mr Mowat describes his tenure at Accenture as a success, was he still there when Accenture was the company that gave up two failing NHS contracts and then tried to paper over the cracks and claimed it had all been a roaring success? Mr Mowat retired in 2006 and in 2006 after months of negotiations, Accenture handed contracts worth £2bn over to rival Computer Sciences Corporation after getting paid just £110m for spending a third of the allotted 10 years on the job. Its hand had been forced by losses of $450m it was set to make on the deal this year.
Accenture delivered nearly 800 systems of varying styles and complexity to NHS trusts in the two English regions it was accountable to under the Local Service Provider (LSP) contracts it held with Connecting for Health (CfH), the NHS IT agency. And here is a little piece (snipped from the main source) I found quite interesting: Accenture had concentrated primarily on implementing GP systems! Mmm, very handy, considering how the Conservative government are now concentrating on GP Commissioning and Consortia!
Questions:
- Where does Accenture fit in with David Cameron making political mileage out of the NHS IT system?
- Where did David Cameron get his brief on the NHS IT problems from?
- Is Accenture a company that stands to benefit in the future from the Tory NHS reforms?
- Does Mr Mowat know John Glenn Conservative MP for Salisbury? Accenture/Analyst/Consultant/Senior Manager at Accenture
Cash Donations To Warrington South, Conservative Party
- 7-7-2010 - £40.000
- 1-4-2010 - £1.500
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| John Randall Conservative Dep Chief Whip |
Nothing that I can see links them with the MIC, however as the "club" is private this information is not in the public domain, only the fact that the Portcullis Club and Tory MP MR Randall appear to be exploiting the same loophole in order to remain out of public scrutiny is the only link that I can find.
Mr Randall appears in Register of Members Interests:
Registrable shareholdings *Randalls of Uxbridge Ltd. Aquila Termeszetvedelmi Es Idegenforgalmi KFT (Aquila Nature Conservation and Tourist Ltd.); Hungarian eco-tourism company.
Voted YES to selling off our forests!
Midlands Industrial Council - The Yews, 3 High Street, Bassingham Village, Lincolnshire - Looks pretty inconspicuous, but out of it flows considerable financial support for the Conservative party.
The Midlands Industrial Council was formed in 1946, its goal is to lobby the Government on behalf of Midlands business interests
When Conservative Central Office needs a new computer system or the Conservative association in a crucial marginal needs campaign funds, it is to the yews they go, or more accurately Midlands Industrial Council (MIC) Helicopters are available, or money for a building survey. MIC is made up of more than 30 businessmen who make up the council, their total worth is estimated at well over £4 billion. The council members are rich, want results in return for their generosity and they like their privacy. However, it stands accused of being little more than a front organisation for rich businessmen looking to funnel large amounts of cash into the Conservative Party, without the inconvenience of their names becoming public or having to endure the attached scrutiny. *Some* of the names of the MIC have been revealed, however, the amounts they donate and where the money went and to whom and what it was used for is still shrouded in Conservative mystery.
Membership is exclusive, being invitation only. Members meet about five times a year, go to Westminster to lobby and each year discuss with Mr Wall the amount they want to give to the Tories. The fund varies with the political cycle but is usually in six figures.
Mr Wall confesses there is a Euro-sceptic element to the MIC group and they are not keen on what they call "Brussels bureaucracy." They are also not keen on some of the health and safety laws introduced in recent years. They also want lower taxes and they want the minimum wage set at a level "which the market can afford".
So the MIC Doesn't influence policy? - In June 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron has appointed Lord Young to review Health and Safety law David Cameron spoke of the rise in the so-called “compensation culture” and said "We need a sensible new approach that makes clear these laws are intended to protect people, not overwhelm businesses with red tape. I look forward to receiving Lord Young's recommendations on how we can best achieve that."
His comments were made despite the fact that the previous government commissioned independent research into this issue of whether a “compensation culture” has developed and found that one does not exist.
So the MIC doesn't try to influence policy? Most members of MIC are also members of the Tax Payers Alliance who "coincidentally" think along with the Tory-led government that public sector pensions need reforming. Question is why are these *private sector* companies poking their nose into *public sector pensions*? Why are they trying to "influence" government policy on public sector pay? One of the many slogans to emerge from the Taxpayers Alliance is that "Better Government, Better Services through Better Policy NOT Bigger Budgets" Now where have I heard this before? Sounds suspiciously like Cameron's "Big Society" where he wants to sack local authority workers, send them to the Job Centre, then have them sent back to the job they have been sacked from, to carry out their old job for approximately £1.60 per hour (Job Seekers Allowance) if they refuse then their JSA is stopped. I wonder if any of MIC members would consider working for less than the minimum wage? And talking about the minimum wage MIC members want it set lower. Tax Payers Alliance AKA MIC members really do have a bee in their bonnets about council executives leaving one job taking their pension and starting another! A bit like they all do in the private sector with all their "golden hellos, golden goodbyes; golden handshakes; gold-plated pensions; golden bonuses etc on top of their extremely sold gold annual salaries. A bit like "don't do as we do, do as we tell you, you plebs". Another little gem from the Taxpayers Alliance is the way they really like this government's intention to privatise ALL of our public services and try to make out like it is in the public's interest all those MIC members (and others) will get to get their hands on NHS contracts, police, fire services, education etc. What is not to like for them? This Tory-led government intend to use outsourcing companies in their rush to privatise Britain and many MIC members and taxpayers Alliance members are (yes you guessed) *outsourcing companies*. Who said that MIC members do not want to influence government policy?
The Taxpayers' Alliance, a campaign group that calls for tax and spending cuts and claims to represent the interests of taxpayers, has admitted one of its directors does not pay British tax.
Alexander Heath, a director of the increasingly influential free market, right-wing lobby group, lives in a farmhouse in the Loire and has not paid British tax for years.
Who said that MIC members do not want to influence government policy? At the 2009 Conservative party conference in Manchester, the TPA's influence was underlined when David Cameron and George Osborne followed its recommendations for freezing public sector pay and capping civil servants' salaries at the level of the prime minister unless approved by the chancellor. Brilliant we are being dictated to by people who do not even pay British Tax, one represents the TPA's and the other the British Conservative chancellor George Osborne who hires a firm of accountants to get him out of paying British tax!
MIC - Coleshill connection
Coleshill has financially benefitted from MIC donations
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The exclusive conversation with the Politics Show in the West Midlands took place at the HQ of Coleshill Campaigning Services, a call centre operation based at Coleshill Manor in Warwickshire.
The Coleshill operation targets voters in key marginal constituencies on behalf of the Tories and has received £1.1m from the MIC in the last two years.
The Manor is owned by MIC member Robert Edmiston.
But even though this web of business links leads back to the Conservatives at every turn, Mr Wall denies that the MIC has an overt influence in candidate selection for the party.
MIC helps to fund the Conservative Party's national election nerve centre at Coleshill, Warwickshire, to the tune of about £1 million a year (which is owned by Bob Edmiston.
Political parties have been legally required since 2001 to reveal the identities of all backers who contribute more than £5,000.
The loophole the Conservatives have exploited: As an unincorporated association, the MIC does not have to publish accounts or disclose the names of its members.
MIC is an “unincorporated association” which means unlike companies or charities, it does not have to publish accounts or disclose its backers.
Businessmen who join MIC become ‘members for life’.
When in opposition most shadow ministers have attended MIC meetings and George Bridges, Cameron’s head of campaigns, is in regular contact with MIC.
MIC meets up to five times a year in hotels or at the office of Edmiston. Members are charged a subscription and many choose to make far larger donations
So who are the members of the MIC?
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| David Wall MIC Secretary |
David Wall said: "We like to have to have the voice of business heard so that MPs and candidates have a full appreciation of what impact their decisions have on the business community."
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| Anthony Bamford and David Cameron In India Coming Up Roses For Tory Donors? |
Sir Anthony is the Chairman of the world famous digger company JCB, which has its headquarters at Rochester in Staffordshire. He is President of the Midlands Industrial Council. In September David Cameron was garlanded with flowers as he joined Sir Anthony to open a new £25m JCB factory in India. The links between JCB and the Conservative party go back many years. He is also a supporter of the Tax Payers Alliance. He was knighted in 1990. He was also part of George Osborne's round Robin letter condemning Labour's proposed National Insurance Contribution increase. Since Cameron assumed power, the Tories halted the NICs rise for employers, while raising national insurance contributions for employees, again reneging on yet another election promise.
According to The Guardian, JCB Group pays the shadow foreign secretary, William Hague, £50,000 a year as its parliamentary adviser. David Cameron and Francis Maude, the Tory chairman, have used its helicopters.
Sir Anthony also took part in the more recent trade delegation to India in July 2010 headed by David Cameron, where Cameron caused controversy with Pakistan when Cameron decided to infer that the Pakistanis "looked both ways" and virtually accused them all of being terrorists, completely forgetting (if he ever knew) that the Pakistani presidents wife was herself murdered by a terrorist attack, by terrorists aggrieved at the way their government allows Allied Forces to use the Pakistani Border with Afghanistan!
Incidentally, in 2008, David Cameron also found time in a busy schedule of photo-opportunities to open a JCB factory in India for Sir Anthony Bamford senior member of MIC! Anthony Bamford has donated over £1 million to the Conservative party.
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| MIC Chairman Bob Edmiston Gets His Peerage At last! |
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| Steve Hollis KPMG & MIC and Tory Donor |
Mr Hollis is head of UK and Europe, Middle East and Africa markets at the accountancy firm KPMG and is a member of the firm's UK board. Accountancy Age describes him as "one of 22 senior figures who advise chief executive John Griffith-Jones on the firm's strategy".
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| George Campion (right) MIC Member. When he worked for Deloitte Currently Employed By Lodders |
George Campion was a senior tax partner in Deloitte's Birmingham office. According to the company website, he worked "extensively in the area of real estate transactions analysing both the corporation tax and commercial implications. His clients included large multinational groups".
J Brian Pettifer - MIC Member (Mr Pettifer is camera shy - no images of him in public domain)
J Brian Pettifer is Chairman and Chief Executive of the Pettifer Group. This organisation was formed in 1955 and, still in private ownership, is a major force in property development, construction, consultancy and web-based applications. It employs in the region of 300 staff, operating throughout the UK. Subsidiary companies operate from London (Mayfair and Clerkenwell), Solihull, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow. Pettifer Group is a Warwickshire based property development company with an office in Mayfair and develops edge of town retail parks.
Pettifer's company ran into trouble over a Welsh Sign which translated to "gibberish""The safety notice by developers Pettifer Construction was put up outside a new store being built near Morrisons in the Anglesey port town.
It is meant to warn passersby about the dangers on the site, in order to protect the public from accidents. In English, the sign’s overriding message: “You are now entering a safety zone”, in fact, reads in Welsh: “Act hourly noting a comfortable belt.”
Mr Pettifer is a supporter of the Tax Payers Alliance.
Tony Gallagher - MIC Member
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| Tony Gallagher |
Estimated personal wealth put at around £500 million.
Roy Richardson- MIC Member
The Sunday Times reports: ‘(Roy) Richardson has also been linked to Labour. In 1997, the Richardson twins, worth £350m, met Lord Levy, Tony Blair’s chief fundraiser, at the House of Lords. The pair discussed donating £1m to Labour and are alleged to have asked for help with planning decisions, according to senior Labour sources. Levy is understood to have stopped the meeting immediately. The brothers deny raising the issue.’
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| Keith Bradshaw Formerly Takare Sold To BUPA |
Keith Bradshaw is an accountant and non-executive chairman of the Wolverhampton-based property group Nurton Developments. Established a number of private companies, the foremost of which, BP Nursing Homes Ltd, became Takare PLC/Care First Group PLC, which was sold to BUPA in January 1998 for approximately £300m. Other business interests include Listers of Coventry and Urbancube.
Personal wealth estimated £150 million
1997 - Mr Bradshaw, has had a turbulent history. Mr Bradshaw was criticised for growing the company, initially called Takare before it merged with Mr Patel's Court Cavendish company last year, too quickly.
The company has also been criticised for overspending on building low- quality homes, without, for example, ensuite toilets. Care First's overexpansion hit occupancy levels at the homes when funding pressures on local authorities increased in the mid-1990s, forcing the company to reverse its strategy.
R.E.L Smith - MIC Member (Another shy one, no photo available)Richard Smith is the Managing Director of H.R.Smith Group, which is based at Leominster in Herefordshire. The group includes the company Techtest. Products include a range of hi-tech radio and electrical equipment used in search and rescue. Is below the kind of business that HRSmith group will be bidding for?
Member of the Taxpayers Alliance.
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| Chris Kelly With David Cameron |
Chris Kelly is based in West Bromwich. He formed Scania Keltruck Limited in 1983. The company employs around 500 people. He is one of three Vice-Chairmen of the MIC. He is also open about his political views. He is on the list of business supporters of Open Europe and is on the Business Council of the TaxPayers Alliance. Mr Kelly was a member of the Conservative Party's Midlands Regional Finance Board, the West Midlands Council of Business for Sterling
David Cameron is being accused of rewarding Tory donors with free publicity. The charge came after he went to the training centre for trucking firm Scania to publicise an announcement on new apprenticeships.
Scania’s UK distributor is businessman Chris Kelly, the deputy chairman of a donors group called the Midlands Industrial Council, which has given £561,780 to the Conservatives since Mr Cameron became the leader. (This amount may have increased since this was reported) Who said that MIC members do not want to influence government policy?
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| Chris Kelly With Margaret Thatcher |
Leavesley Group MIC Members (no picture available)
James and John Leavesley, are based at Alrewas in Staffordshire. The family-run Leavesley Group dates back to 1919. The group has grown and diversified into a number of sectors. These include property and agricultural activities, surplus equipment, machinery and vehicle sales, shipping containers, petrol retailing and farm quality assurance and inspection. John Leavesley is also a supporter of the TaxPayers Alliance, which lobbies the Government to reduce taxes.
Lowe & Fletcher Ltd - Corporate member of the MIC
Lowe & Fletcher Ltd is a corporate member of the MIC. From a small locksmith's shop founded in Willenhall, in the Black Country in 1889, the Lowe and Fletcher and Euro-locks Group has grown into a world-leading specialist in the design and manufacture of locking, says the company website. Now based in Wednesbury it also has factories in Europe and the United States.
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| Peter Shirley and Wife |
Peter Shirley is the owner and Managing Director of Midland Chilled Foods. The company began in 1976 at Willenhall in the Black Country. It now comprises three companies, Midland Chilled Foods Ltd., Midland Pie Products Ltd. and Midland Food Group Ltd, has a turnover well in excess of £35m and employs nearly 200 people. When the Midland Food Group, opened a new chilled foods factory in Basingstoke, Hampshire it was opened by David Cameron, then the leader of the opposition. Peter Shirley said:
'I’m a member of the MIC. I was absolutely amazed that it was David Cameron who came to the (factory) opening... We tell (Tory Ministers) that if they’re
going to have policies, we would like to know what the heck they are.'
Most "shadow ministers" have attendedPeter Shirley also supports the TaxPayers Alliance.
MIC meetings and George Bridges,
Cameron’s head of campaigns, is in regular contact with it...
R. Robinson - MIC Member
Robert Robinson, founder of the Warwickshire firm of Robinsons
Kambiz Jaberi - MIC Member
Kambiz Jaberi is chairman and Managing Director of Karins Catering Group of Bilston. They supply food to 14 airports. Clients include British Airways CitiExpress, Flybe, Alpha Catering Services, Gate Gourmet International, Citynet Catering, First Choice Airways & West Midlands Police. Most popular sandwich: Roast Chicken on Poppy bread. Mr Jaberi was involved in the Vote No campaign against the UK signing the European Constitution and supports TaxPayers Alliance.
Kim Jaberi told the Sunday Times:
“I was invited to join about [five] years ago. We are self-made people who can tell politicians about transport, about climate change, about tax – about what real life is about.”
Tessa Miller & Michael Miller - MIC Members
Michael Miller is Chairman of the Harris & Sheldon Group Ltd which has wide-ranging interests including automotive component manufacturing and fishing tackle manufacturing. The company is based at Packington Park, Meriden, near Coventry. Michael Miller has been involved with both the TaxPayers Alliance and Vote No to the EU Constitution campaigns.
Involved with Taxpayers Alliance
Graham Hampson Silk - MIC Member
Graham Hampson Silk sold his stake in Wolverhampton and Blackpool airports for £15m. He was previously involved in the film industry and was credited as executive producer of children's fantasy movie Rainbow and British comedies The Sea Change and Shooting Fish. He was named as the "one to watch", in a business industry profile in 2001 which added: "his day job is at Hampson Industries, a group of aerospace engineering businesses with annual turnover approaching £100m". 'Mr Silk said... the organisation was simply a group that existed to lobby for a better deal for Midland businesses.' (He forgot to mention that they are strongly Eurosceptic and nearly all are members of the Taxpayers Alliance, that want our public sector reduced, our National insurance contributions to go up and our taxes to rise, while theirs fall)
Constantine Folkes
Constantine Folkes
Constantine Folkes is the Chairman and Chief Executive of Folkes Holdings. Folkes Holdings has engineering and real estate interests. His company is one of the largest commercial landlords in the Black Country and also has real estate interests in South Africa. The company's engineering operations are conducted at Somers Forge in Halesowen. Folkes Holdings went private in 2003 and is now 91% owned by Constantine Folkes. The company traces its origins to an 18th Century blacksmith shop in Lye. Mr Folkes supports the TaxPayers Alliance.
In addition, I found three other people as *previous members* of the Midlands Industrial Council.
Sir Eric Pountain
He died at the age of 70 in 2003. He built Tarmac into one of the UK's biggest house builders. Born in Cannock Chase he went to school in Walsall. He is credited with coming up with the idea of the "show home" to sell properties on new estates. In the 1980s Tarmac was a prominent donor to the Conservative party. Was also chairman later of IMI Metals. He was knighted in 1985.
Gareth Davies
Former chairman of Glynwed International, which is most famous for its Aga kitchen products. Mr Davies retired after 40 years service with the company in the late 1990s. Glowing tributes by colleagues described his contribution to the business as "immense".
Gary Allen
Mr Allen succeeded Sir Eric Pountain as the chairman of IMI Metals. He joined the company in 1965, became Chief Exec in 1986 and Chairman in 2001. He was awarded the CBE in 1991. He retired from IMI in 2004.
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| Disgraced Former Tory MP Julie Kirkbride |
The former Bromsgrove MP has been revealed as an "ex-officio" member of the secretive Midlands Industrial Council (MIC) after an investigation by the Politics Show in the West Midlands.
There is no published record of Ms Kirkbride's connections to the organisation, even though she has now confirmed she is the "link person" between the MIC and the Conservative party in parliament.
Ms Kirkbride's name emerged after the MIC said it was going to continue to conceal the identity of its members in future unless there is a change in the law.
Other MPs have gone to prison for a lot less than Julie Kirkbride and her husband have done over their expense claims, yet the shamed former Tory MP has landed a lucrative job in the lobbying industry days after being forced to quit the Commons because of public anger over her expenses.
Miss Kirkbride, 49, was appointed as a consultant to the Westminster-based lobbying firm Tetra Strategy on a salary rumoured to be approaching £100,000.
Last year her former MP husband Andrew Mackay, who was also embroiled in the expenses scandal, landed a six-figure salary post as ‘international consultant’ to the lobbying giant Burston-Marsteller.
The MIC was accused of being a clearinghouse for donations to the Tory party, and possibly open to challenge under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.
Between April 16, 2003, and March 14, 2006, the Conservative Party received 52 donations from the MIC totalling £968,690. This amount has increased massively in recent years leading up to and beyond the May 2010 general election.
This list begs almost as many questions as it answers. How much did each of them give exactly?
Where did that money go? Was it used to buy influence over Conservative policy? Remember Stuart Wheeler the Conservative millionaire donor spread better, now UKIP member? He says it is perfectly reasonable to expect that business leaders donating large sums to the Tory party do so with the view of influencing policy. Mr Wheeler has himself donated over £3 million to the Conservative party.
And what about the people who have given money in the past - or may do so in the future who will still be able to slip quietly behind the veil of anonymity?
Currently despite David Cameron's promise of "new and transparent politics" the laws as it stands, does not require a breakdown of figures from the MIC as it is an unincorporated association - effectively, a private club, or any other association like it. *Just like the Portcullis club* this is how the Conservative party is managing to protect so many of their big financial donors from scrutiny.
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| Cameron Photo Opportunity |
Nothing unusual there. Apart from the fact, the chief executives of all these firms have publicly backed the Tories’ cynical attempt to win votes by promising to halt a scheduled rise in National Insurance.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has also got in on the act by visiting the headquarters of easyJet, whose founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou also supports Mr Cameron’s NI policy.
Cameron even mentioned Mothercare in the House of Commons and his wife Sam wore a Marks and Spencer frock during campaigning, but it turned out the frock had been made to measure for her. Sir Stuart Rose was then the MD of Marks and a Cameron supporter, who signed the NICs letter.
"The Conservative party have exploited a loophole in the law that allows unincorporated associations, such as the Midlands Industrial Council and the Uxbridge Portcullis Club, to give many thousands of pounds to local constituency associations without the latter accounting for that or provide any details about who was behind those shady organisations until it was forced out of them."
Big business is behind this Tory-led government without a shadow of a doubt, just a cursory look through all the information I have provided you will see a clear pattern emerging which has been taking shape since David Cameron became the Conservative leader.
It almost blatant, big business does not donate millions of pounds to a political party without expecting some influence over policy and the information I have provided you can actually see it very clearly. The Tories will point straight away to the unions and the Labour party but one this does not excuse what they are doing and d two, the unions are very regulated bodies made up out of thousands of members, they are not close unregulated unincorporated bodies made up out of secret members donating obscene amounts to the Tory party hoping to change policy and influence policy in favour of their own companies.
In return for their huge financial donations David Cameron has been opening their new companies, both here and abroad and during the 2010 election campaign Cameron managed to have photo opportunities in front of a row of JCBs, in front of trays of Warburton's bread, Jewson trucks in the background, B&Q, Mothercare, Marks and Spencers, it just goes on and on and Cameron even mentions his friends companies during prime minister's question time.
In a speech, in February 2010 David Cameron warned that lobbying was ‘the next big scandal waiting to happen’. Well, he should know!
Lobbying is the next big scandal waiting to happen... an issue that exposes the far-too-cosy relationship between politics, government, business and money... And we all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisors for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way…"
He also said: “I believe that secret corporate lobbying, like the expenses scandal, goes to the heart of why people are so fed up with politics.”.
Yet, as the Observer reveals, some of his party’s current crop of prospective MPs aren't being fully transparent with voters about their links to the lobbying industry!
Cameron promised us transparent politics, but all we have had from him is the shadiest dirty corrupt looking behaviour, far worse than anything seen in parliament since the last time the Tories were in power, at least it took those successive Tory governments 18 years to get to the point where they were mired in sleaze, it has taken this Tory government less than 8 months and the lies, broken promises and deliberate misleading of parliament and the British people almost on a daily basis from this Tory government is astonishing!
I have omitted from this post about arms dealers and oil companies, as the post is too long already, as for the links to the lobbying of the NHS for contracts, well that is a book waiting to be written! However, have no fear these subjects will be covered at some point in the near future.
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