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Where do the Tories get their money from?

August 22, 2012 1:03 pm

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This morning I said that “Labour just isn’t bringing in enough money, perhaps not even enough to run the kind of election campaign that’s needed to make the huge gains we need to win in 2015″. If I was concerned before, I’m terrified now.

Because now I have an idea of how much money Tory MPs have at their disposal.

A new website – searchthemoney.com – run by Political Scrapbook Editor Laurence Durnan, reveals the amount of money each Tory MP receives in donations (corporate and private), as well as any renumerations and property/land that might be boosting their personal coffers. It’s billed as ‘the website David Cameron doesn’t want you to see’.

My nearest marginal seat, for example, is Finchley and Golders Green. According to searchthemoney.com, the MP for that seat Mike Freer has received £491,799.59. He has only been an MP for two years. I doubt I am wrong in suggesting that Finchley and Golders Green Labour Party have far less than that at their disposal.

Michael Gove is another Tory MP who seems to be raking it in, with £491,799.59. The personally wealthy Zac Goldsmith received  £536,570.14, but has been donating his own money to fellow MPs too. Poor David Cameron has received just £174,657.32, which pales into contrast with Nicholas Soames who picked up £499,603.41.

That, ladies and gentleman, is a mountain for Labour to climb. A cash mountain.

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  • alex_bjarnason

    Would be helpful if we had non-tory MPs as a comparative sample.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001102865655 John Ruddy

    I think part of the disarity is because the figures are a total over several years. 

  • CaterhamJack

    Actually, they seem to have made a number of deliberately misleading errors. For example, counting money donated before the 2005 General Election in Mike Freer’s case, before he was the candidate.

    This inflates the figures somewhat, and they have made the same mistake pretty much across the board.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001102865655 John Ruddy

       It depends on your point of view – if someone donated money before the candidate was selected, on the basis that it would be used on the forthcoming election, should it be discounted?

      • CaterhamJack

        This is money donated to the previous candidate, that was spent on the 2005 election. It has nothing to do with the current MP. No wonder the numbers seem to big, they’re adding apples to oranges and calling it an orchard.

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/UWS57DDOUJQ4ODFF7UND3X7JDQ Gaudi

    I take your point but in fairness are any of the above seats really in play for Labour candidates?  Apart from Zac Goldsmith they all seem fairly safe Tory seats where anyone rocking up with a blue rosette would win.  They are staggering amounts of money though and would like more transparency on where it comes from.

    • markfergusonuk

      Finchley and Golders Green was Labout until 2010

  • Pingback: Where do the Tories get their money from??? | Atos Victims Group News

  • MonkeyBot5000

    It’s a shame the site doesn’t do LibDem and Labour MPs as well.

    £400k+ is obviously a large amount of money for the average person, but it needs to put in context with what other MPs are receiving if we’re to get a proper picture of what’s going on.

    • JoeDM

       Acording to Guido Fawkes it is funded by the Trade Unions though he does not give any details.   So balance should not be expected !!!

    • Just_Another_Voter

       The website is financed by Unite, GMB and CWU so they are not likely to publicise Labour funding. Also they have stated on twitter that the site is a campaigning tool.

      • MonkeyBot5000

        I know. I was trying to be polite and not directly point out the fact that, without the context of knowing how much other MPs are getting, it’s a rather insulting attempt to shock the electorate by saying, “Look at the big numbers!”

  • http://twitter.com/BobEllard1 Bob Ellard

    Then we’re just have to going to win by hard work and imagination – by exploiting free means of getting our message out, like the internet. And we are going to have to make sure we come up with the best arguments, to convince people to support us .  As the Tories never tire of lecturing, money isn’t everything!

  • Brumanuensis

    The only bright spot, I suppose, is that the Tories tend to waste it on easily spoofable billboards.

  • markfergusonuk

    The site states quiet clearly how it is funded and what its purpose is!
    –
    Mark Ferguson

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Graeme-Hancocks/1156294498 Graeme Hancocks

     The site clearly states t is funded by Trade Unions. Guido Fawkes talking about balance? Dont make me laugh!! He doesnt know the meaning of the word. 

    Point well made Mark F.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Graeme-Hancocks/1156294498 Graeme Hancocks

    The Tory party is the rich man’s party and so this isn’t surprising. Depressing. But not surprising.  We shall all have to dig dip come 2015 to make sure that this odious coalition is kicked firmly and comprehensively out of office.

  • http://www.facebook.com/ian.robathan.5 Ian Robathan

    Se those are trying to distract from the piece by mentioning how the site is funded and not that every bit of it is true.

    From my own CLP I know we are so far short on those figures it is embarassing. However I dont believe cash is THAT important. Campaigning has changed, for me it is about being on the street, being visible, being active.

    This is not about cash and glossy colour leaflets at all any more but about actions and ideas. That is where we are best, it is how we won and retained Edgbaston, won in Sutton Coldfield.

    It was not about having more cash.

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