Conservatives sell 'Access to the Prime Minister' and 'Influence on Government Policy' for £250k

The Tory party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas has had to resign after being caught offering access to the prime minister and chancellor for £250,000.

He was forced to resign after footage from a Sunday Times sting operation showed him making the offer to undercover reporters.

In his resignation statement last night the senior Conservative responsible for collecting donations for the party said he deeply regretted the repercussions of his "bluster" during the recorded conversations. 

In the footage, he is heard to say: "£200-250k is premier league … what you would get is, when we talk about your donations the first thing we want to do is get you at the Cameron/Osborne dinners" ...

"You do really pick up a lot of information and when you see the prime minister, you're seeing David Cameron, not the prime minister. But within that room everything is confidential – you can ask him practically any question you want" ...
 

"If you're unhappy about something, we will listen to you and put it into the policy committee at No 10 – we feed all feedback to the policy committee."

The newspaper claims the offer was made even though Cruddas knew the money would come from a fund in Liechtenstein that was not eligible to make donations under electoral law. Options said to have been discussed included creating a British subsidiary or using UK employees as conduits. The overseas clients were, in fact, reporters posing as wealth fund executives who had made clear they wished to develop contacts with the prime minister and other senior ministers to further their business.

The revelations will be a considerable embarrassment for the government, especially in the wake of claims in the budget of a supposed crackdown on wealth in offshore havens. Cameron has also made political mileage out of his intention to run a sleaze-free government.

 

The disclosures appear to contradict previous claims by the Conservatives that their high-value donor groups, such as the "leader's group", are for genuine supporters who do not seek to influence policy in return for their cash.

They also raise questions about the role of the prime minister. Months before taking office, Cameron warned that this type of "secret corporate lobbying" was the "next big scandal waiting to happen". Yet the Sunday Times claims the meetings, at which Cruddas claimed "premier league" donors could lobby the prime minister directly, have not been declared to the public.

Cameron clearly knew about such problems, as his own warnings prior to entering office suggest ... however on entering office he chose to ignore his own warnings and carried on regardless ... yet another mistake from an increasingly arrogant and out of touch 'leader' ...

Given this type of behaviour it's no surprise that the damaging NHS reforms were forced through regardless (with Lansley and the Conservative party also heavily backed by Private Healthcare providers) ...

No wonder the Conversatives are also not keen on the electoral commissions recommendations to limit any donations to £10,000 ...

What immoral and corrupt people these people really are ...