City bankers, have no fear – the Tory Party have got your back

The old saying is undoubtedly true, it’s in the midst of a crisis that you find out who your real friends are.  So if you are a City banker and worried that times might be about to get tough, have no fear, your oldest and staunchest allies, the Conservative Party, have got your back.

Some bankers are concerned about the fact that their bonuses might be restricted to 200% of their pay.  Given this pressure, of only being able to triple your already astronomical salary with a bonus, it must be a blessed relief to know that you have Tory MEPs like Kay Swinburne in your corner.  At a recent conference in the City of London, she gave a speech to the assembled bankers, calling on them to be “a little more innovative as to how you get around it [the banking bonus cap]”, as well as helpfully pointing out that she was “hearing all sorts of schemes at the moment that do bypass the overall cap”.

Now we know a little bit about Kay Swinburne in Welsh Labour, because she’s been an MEP for Wales since 2009 – although we don’t know as much as we would like, because a full five years after being elected she still hadn’t managed to see through her promise of actually moving to Wales.  Nevertheless, it’s good to know that she could make time to speak with friends at the conference and given her previous job as a corporate banker she must have felt right at home.

Any bankers still concerned about potential dark days to come, shouldn’t worry that Kay Swinburne is an outrider in the Conservative Party, boldly standing up for the interests of the mega wealthy on her own.  Far from it, in fact her loyal support is a core that runs right through the Tory party.  When the EU initially announced plans for a cap on bankers’ bonuses George Osborne made it clear that he wasn’t going to stand for it – in fact he was going to fight it all the way.  So by November of 2014 the Chancellor had racked up legal fees of £46,000 mounting a legal challenge against the EU cap on bank bonuses, that’s before we even add in the cost of civil servants time who worked on the case.  Ultimately the challenge was abandoned, but at least he tried.

In some ways you have tip your hat to the steadfast loyalty shown by the Conservatives to their friends in the City, although to be fair it is a two way street.  Earlier this month the rich and mega-rich of the banking and hedge fund world had their chance to show the Conservative Party how grateful they are at the splendidly vulgar Black & White Ball, with its £1,500 ticket price and prizes beyond parody.

But to anyone reading this worried that they missed the boat, have no fear, the chance to donate to the Tories isn’t restricted to a big bash in Mayfair. Over the last few years 27 of the 59 wealthiest hedge fund managers have personally donated (or seen their fund donate) more than £19m to the Tories. While the FT found that “the number of big City backers for the Conservative party has doubled during this parliament”.  In fact, donations from the hedge fund industry to the Conservative Party now total over £55 million, while hedge funds were given a tax cut worth £145m by George Osborne in 2013.  Not that there’s any link between the two, of course.

Inevitably, news of Kay Swinburne’s financial advice to bankers comes on the same day as figures show up to one in five jobs in the UK pays less than the living wage, while in some parliamentary constituencies more than half the people in work are paid less than this.  It is particularly galling in Wales – the area of the UK with the lowest disposable income – that a nominally Welsh MEP should go out of her way to help bankers avoid a bonus cap, when the Welsh people are among the worst hit by a combination of stagnant wages and rising prices.

Undeterred by such truths, the Tories continue to offer a miserable vision for the future, hoping that ordinary people will settle for less and be content to see their living standards decline year on year.  While to the wealthy few their message is the same as ever: we are in your corner, fighting your cause, making sure the government is on your side.

Kay Swinburne is an obscure MEP whose comments would normally merit little attention. But her remarks today deserve to be noticed by us all in Labour, and inspire us to make the same pledge of loyalty as the Tories, but with one crucial difference. When we win in May we will show the same unswerving support to ordinary working people that Cameron’s government offers to their chums in the City – and start the long task of evening things up between the people Kay is supposed to represent, and those she chooses to speak for.

Owen Smith is the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales