Cash for Peerages
Encyclopedia
Cash for Honours is the name given by some in the media
to a political scandal in the United Kingdom
in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and the award of life peerages. A loophole in electoral law in the United Kingdom
means that although anyone donating even small sums of money to a political party has to declare this as a matter of public record, those loaning money at commercial rates of interest did not have to make a public declaration.
In March 2006, several men nominated for life peerages by then Prime Minister
, Tony Blair
, were rejected by the House of Lords Appointments Commission
. It was later revealed they had loaned large amounts of money to the governing Labour Party
, at the suggestion of Labour fundraiser Lord Levy
. Suspicion was aroused by some that the peerages were a quid pro quo
for the loans. This resulted in three complaints to the Metropolitan Police
by Scottish National Party
MP Angus MacNeil
, Elfyn Llwyd
(Plaid Cymru
parliamentary leader), and a third individual who continues to remain unidentified, as a breach of the law against selling honours. The investigation was headed by Assistant Commissioner John Yates who has since resigned over the News of the World phone hacking scandal. During the investigation various members of the Labour Party (including Tony Blair), the Conservatives
and the Liberal Democrats
were questioned, and Labour's Lord Levy was arrest
ed and later released on bail
. The investigation continued to have political impact throughout, as a range of stories continued to leak from the police
investigation and damaged the government and Labour Party
.
Following the unveiling of the scandal the Labour party had to repay the loans and was said to be in financial difficulty. The police investigation was long and involved. It expanded to encompass potential charges of perverting the course of justice, apparently relating to suspected attempts to present evidence to the police in a particular way. At one point the Attorney General
, Lord Goldsmith, obtained an injunction against the BBC
, preventing them from reporting a story they claimed was in the public interest while he argued that the story was sub judice
. This raised the possibility of a conflict of interest, the Attorney General being a political appointee. Tony Blair was interviewed three times as Prime Minister, though only as a witness and not under caution.
After a long review of the police file, it was reported on 20 July 2007 that the Crown Prosecution Service
would not bring any charges against any of the individuals involved. Their decision stated that while peerages may have been given in exchange for loans, it could not find direct evidence that that had been agreed in advance; this direct evidence of an agreement in advance is what would be required for a successful prosecution. Notwithstanding the lack of any charges, some considered that the investigation had severely undermined Tony Blair's position, and possibly hastened his resignation as Prime Minister.
and royal favourites. In the late 19th century, peerages began to be awarded to industrialists with increasing frequency. Well-substantiated allegations that titles were sold during David Lloyd George
's Prime Ministership led to the passing of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925
. In the second half of the 20th century the granting of hereditary peerages, other than to members of the Royal Family
, virtually ceased, giving way to life peer
ages, which have been granted since the passing of the Life Peerages Act 1958
. They are given to a wide range of individuals on the recommendation of the leaders of the major British political parties, including opposition parties.
In May 1998, the then Chairman of the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee, former Conservative
Cabinet Minister Lord Pym
, told a House of Commons Select Committee that the committee considered a political donation a point in a nominee's favour as it indicated involvement in public life, and that the nominee had "put their money where his mouth is". The House of Lords Appointments Commission was established in 2000 to check the suitability of those nominated for an honour.
In the summer of 2005, a list of 28 people nominated for working peerages was prepared. The list contained 11 Labour nominees, 8 Conservatives
, 5 Liberal Democrats
, 3 members of the Democratic Unionist Party
and one member of the Ulster Unionist Party
. The Green Party of England and Wales
ultimately declined to nominate. The list was referred to the Appointments Commission in the usual way. Publication of the list was delayed and stories began to appear in the press stating that the Commission had concerns about some of those nominated on grounds of their large donations to political parties. In February 2006, stockbroker Barry Townsley
, who had donated £6,000 (and loaned £1 m on commercial terms) to the Labour Party and contributed £1.5 m to a City Academy under a government scheme, withdrew his acceptance on the grounds of press intrusion into his private life.
Townsley, who was the subject of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office
, was followed by property millionaire Sir David Garrard
, who withdrew his name in March 2006. Sir Gulam Noon
, the British-Indian food company millionaire
, was also nominated by the Labour Party
after having made donations and loaned money (he also had his nomination rejected by the Appointments Commission). Sir Gulam told The Times newspaper
a "senior party man" told him "there was no reason why I should declare this loan because it was refundable". "I was told by this same person that because there was interest on the loan it was a commercial matter and would not come under the same party funding rules as a donation."
The list of working peers, minus the withdrawn and queried names, was published on 10 April 2006.
(Director of the Priory healthcare group) who had donated £10,000 to the Labour Party complained that he was being rejected by the Commission. He said "It is a fact that I have donated, but what is being implicated is that I would be rewarded with a peerage. I have never asked for any favour for the money that I have donated. My children suggested that if I had not given this money, I would not be seen in this light. But I happen to support this Government. I gave money to the party because I happen to believe in what it stands for. I can't change what has happened." Patel stated that he had asked a Queen's Counsel
for advice on whether his human rights were being abused by the Commission.
On 29 March 2006, Patel withdrew his name from the list of nominees for a peerage. He said that at no time did he have any expectation of a reward nor had he been offered anything in return, yet on a BBC 'Today' programme he expressed the view that he wanted to serve in the Upper House (the Lords) as he felt that his life experience ensured that he could make a valuable contribution there. He has also stated in a letter to the House of Lords Appointments Commission that "I feel that, given my accumulated experience and deep sense of public service, as well as being able to devote the time to undertake the responsibility effectively, I would be able to make a contribution to the parliamentary process."
Labour Party manifesto
was entitled "new Labour because Britain deserves better". In the section headed "We will clean up politics", the text pointed to the debasing of democracy through Conservative MPs who had taken cash for asking questions in the House of Commons
. A pledge was made to the "reform of party funding to end sleaze" with the commitment to a law to require all parties to declare the source of all donations above a minimum figure, which Labour already did voluntarily. Foreign funding would be banned. These commitments were delivered in 2000 with the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
.
It also described the need to reform the House of Lords which would end the right by law of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. This commitment was delivered in 1999 with the House of Lords Act 1999
. In relation to the system of appointment of life peers Labour’s stated objective was to ensure that over time party appointees as life peers would more accurately reflect the proportion of votes cast at the previous general election, a commitment that has since been altered so that the two main parties in the House of Lords should instead have approximately equal strength.
reported that shortly before being told that he would receive a peerage, Patel had been asked to change a donation to the Labour Party he was planning to make into an unsecured loan. On 26 March 2006, The Independent
confirmed that it was Lord Levy
who had asked Patel to switch using this unsecured loan approach. He agreed and loaned £1.5 m to the party, telling them that he would be prepared to change the loan into a donation at some point in the future. Over the next few days stories were printed which stated that the Labour Party had borrowed £3.5 million from private individuals during 2005, the year of a general election
. It was subsequently revealed that a total of £13.95 million had been loaned by wealthy individuals to support Labour's election campaign. The figures released mean the bulk of the £17.94 m the party spent on its general election campaign was paid for by loans from individuals. The terms of the loans were confidential.
Loans made on commercial terms, at between 1% and 3% above the banking base rate
as was the case here, are not subject to reporting requirements to the Electoral Commission
. However the Treasurer
of the Party, Jack Dromey
, stated publicly that neither he nor Labour's elected National Executive Committee
chairman Sir Jeremy Beecham
had knowledge of or involvement in the loans and had only become aware when he read about it in the newspapers. Dromey stated that he was regularly consulted about conventional bank loans. As well as announcing his own investigation he called on the Electoral Commission to investigate the issue of political parties taking out loans from non-commercial sources.
Tribune magazine
reported that Dromey had intended to reveal his inquiry exclusively in the Labour-oriented magazine later that week, but having heard that Tony Blair
intended to announce an inquiry the following day, toured television studios on the evening of 15 March 2006 announcing his inquiry (video). Dromey feared he would be blamed for the debts by an inquiry organised by 10 Downing Street
(Tribune 2006/3/24 p5). Dromey's announcement created much media interest to which Blair had to respond to at his monthly press conference the next day. Blair said he wanted to shake up of the honours system and improve the rules covering party funding.
The affair centred on two aspects of Labour's political fund raising activities. First, to what degree was there a tacit or implied relationship between the large scale donors and their subsequent recognition via the honours system
? Second, the rules on party funding (applicable to all political parties in the UK) require that anyone donating £5,000 or more must be named - but loans of any amount do not have to be declared provided they are made on commercial terms. This loophole raises accusations of undue secrecy and potentially calls into question the probity of those involved in procurement and handling of such large and anonymous sums, particularly when the elected party treasurer was unaware of the existence of the loans.
Lord Levy
, a close friend of Tony Blair (who was the Prime Minister's personal envoy to the Middle East, as well as tennis partner), had raised funds for Labour and was identified in the press as a key figure in arranging the loans and on 17 March 2006 it was announced that the Public Administration Select Committee
of the House of Commons had invited him to give evidence on political financing. Committee Chairman Tony Wright said:
Another issue was repayment: the Labour Party owed about £14 m before the election. The interest on the loans amounted to £900,000 a year and some of the loans had to be repaid within months, either through further borrowing or gifts. In these circumstances, one unanswered question concerned why Lord Levy asked for loans rather than gifts.
It was disclosed on 25 March 2006 that the only persons privy to details of the loans were Tony Blair, Lord Levy and Matt Carter
.
On March 25, 2006 it was revealed that Scotland Yard
had requested that parliament halt the Public Administration Select Committee
hearing with four of the peerage nominees, Sir David Garrard, Sir Gulam Noon, and Chai Patel, Barry Townsley as it could prejudice the criminal investigation. The assistant commissioner, John Yates asked for the parliamentary investigation to be postponed.
The Guardian revealed that many of the people who had made loans to the Labour party had been major donors to charities with which Lord Levy had been involved, namely, the Community Service Volunteers
, Jewish Care
and the NSPCC
. Sir David Garrard, Andrew Rosenfeld
, and Barry Townsley
are patrons of Jewish Care; Richard Caring, proprietor of the Ivy
in London
, had raised £10 m for the NSPCC, and Sir David Garrard, Dr. Chai Patel
, Andrew Rosenfeld, Richard Caring
, and Derek Tullett are all connected to the Community Service Volunteers
.
In July 2006 it came to public attention that Lord Levy had allegedly told Sir Gulam Noon
, a businessman nominated for a peerage, not to tell the Lords vetting committee about his loan to the Labour party. On 20 April 2005 Noon had agreed to lend Labour £250,000 on commercial terms. He paid the funds on 28 April. He had originally offered to make a donation of between £50,000 and £75,000 but Levy wanted £1 m. They then negotiated a loan, rather than a donation.
A letter sent to Sir Gulam at this time by Labour said that his £250,000 loan was not "reportable" under relevant legislation.
On 3 October 2006, Sir Gulam was informed by a Labour official that the prime minister was nominating him for a peerage. On 4 October 2006, Sir Gulam received the nomination forms for joining the House of Lords. These asked him to list his contributions to Labour. Sir Gulam gave the papers to his accountant, who put down the £250,000 on the form along with just over £220,000 of straight donations he had made since 2000.
On 5 October 2006 Lord Levy told Sir Gulam that he should not have included the £250,000 on the papers sent to the Lords Appointments Commission, because it was not a donation, and was therefore not legally required to be disclosed. Sir Gulam retrieved the papers from Downing Street and submitted a revised document that made no mention of the £250,000.
In March 2006, the Lords Appointments Commission found out about the loan. Its chairman, Lord Stevenson, then wrote to the prime minister asking that Sir Gulam's nomination for a peerage be withdrawn.
One of the lenders, Lord Sainsbury of Turville
was, until November 2006, a government minister. Initially Lord Sainsbury of Turville incorrectly announced that he had reported the loan to the Department of Trade and Industry's Permanent Secretary
. He later apologised for unintentionally misleading the public by confusing disclosures about a donation of £2 m with the loan for the same amount which in fact he had not reported. He faces an investigation by Sir John Bourn
, head of the National Audit Office
, for a possible breach of the ministerial code
.
The identity of 10 backers it had repaid - including a number of foreign nationals - was not revealed. These loans had totalled £5 million. Some of these lenders were concerned not to reveal their identity fearing that it might compromise their existing business arrangements with the government. Their details, including one foreign backer, will be provided "in confidence" to the Electoral Commission
. Initially the party had sought not to disclose to anyone the names of two lenders who requested confidentiality.
The party had an outstanding £16 million bank loan and £4.7 million was owed to local Conservative Party associations.
The Electoral Commission welcomed the decision to publish the list - but said it had written to the party asking for more details on the loan terms.
and the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889
and the Metropolitan Police
investigated the three complaints that they had received under these Acts. The police are also investigating whether false declarations were made to the Electoral Commission
, which is an offence under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
. On 27 March they gave MPs more details of its inquiry into the complaints and the Public Administration Select Committee
agreed to postpone its hearing on this issue in order not to prejudice possible police action. The criminal inquiry and the Electoral Commission investigation both stretch back to 2001.
6 April 2006 - Electoral Commission announced that its own investigation was to be suspended until the police completed their inquiries. The Electoral Commission was not satisfied that election funding laws had not been breached.
, was a council member of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
, which helped the government recruit sponsors for the City Academy
programme. Lord Levy was the President of The Council of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
12 July 2006 - Lord Levy
was arrested by the Metropolitan Police
in connection with the enquiry.
20 September 2006 - Businessman Christopher Evans
was arrested by police in connection with the enquiry.
22 November 2006 - The police questioned a serving Cabinet
minister, for the first time, as a witness in the investigation, Secretary of State for Health
Patricia Hewitt
.
14 December 2006 - Police questioned Prime Minister
Tony Blair
at Downing Street
as a witness; he was not arrested or interviewed under caution.
15 December 2006 - Police questioned Jack McConnell
, the First Minister
of Scotland
.
January 2007 - Police questioned, under caution, John McTernan
, the Director of Political Operations at 10 Downing Street
seconded to the Scottish Labour Party
to run its campaign for the Scottish Parliament general election of 3 May 2007.
19 January 2007 - Ruth Turner
, Director of Government Relations at 10 Downing Street
, was arrested by police under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act and also on suspicion of perverting the course of justice
. She was later released on bail. She was the first salaried Government official to be arrested in the inquiry, which followed a search of 10 Downing Street's computer systems by an independent IT expert.
26 January 2007 - Prime Minister
Tony Blair
was questioned in Downing Street
for a second time—once again, as a witness and not under caution. At the request of police the 45 minute interview was not publicly revealed until 1 February 2007, for what they described as "operational reasons". A Metropolitan Police
spokesperson stated that Blair was only being "interviewed as a witness" but declined to state whether the interview related to alleged breaches of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act or alleged perversion of the course of justice. However, on June 25, 2007 Channel 4 news reported that the police had originally asked for an interview under caution, and that Blair had said that this would require him to resign as Prime Minister. The police had then re-considered and interviewed him as a witness, rather than suspect.
30 January 2007 - Lord Levy
was arrested again on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice
, while still on bail from the previous arrest. He was subsequently bailed.
7 February 2007 - The Crown Prosecution Service
confirmed that head teacher Des Smith will not face any charges.
20 February 2007 - On reporting to a police station under her bail
terms, Ruth Turner
was interviewed for a second time and re-bailed.
2 March 2007 - The Attorney General
, Lord Goldsmith obtained an injunction to prevent the BBC from broadcasting a story about the investigation, relating to an email that the BBC had seen.
5 March 2007 - After a request to the Attorney General, the BBC was allowed to reveal that the email was sent by Number 10 aide Ruth Turner to Tony Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, and concerned Labour's chief fundraiser Lord Levy The BBC were still not allowed to reveal the contents of the email.
6 March 2007 - After both the police and the attorney general failed to obtain an injunction, The Guardian
newspaper revealed that the police had shifted their focus from whether there was an effort to sell peerages to whether there has been a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. It emerged that Turner and Levy had a meeting in 2006, an account of which was passed by her lawyers to the police, and the police were seeking clarification of whether Levy had asked Turner to "shape" the evidence she gave to Scotland Yard. On the same day, the Daily Telegraph
newspaper revealed that Ruth Turner had not actually sent the email, because she feared it would be damaging if it fell into the wrong hands. Later in the day the BBC got the injunction against them lifted, and confirmed that their story was similar in substance to that published in the Guardian.
20 April 2007 The police sent their file on the investigation to the Crown Prosecution Service
.
5 June 2007 Lord Levy and Ruth Turner were re-bailed in connection with the inquiry.
26 June 2007 On the day before Tony Blair left office The Telegraph reports that American actress Courtney Coventry
was flown into the UK at taxpayers expense to give evidence in the Cash for Honours investigation.
28 June 2007 The day after Tony Blair left office as Prime Minister it was reported that the police had interviewed him a third time some time in early June, and again not under caution.
23 October 2007 PASC questioned Assistant Commissioner Yates regarding the expenditure of the Metropolitan Police Commission during the Cash for Honours Investigation and the lack of subsequent charges.
(CPS) on Friday 20 April. Under English law, it is up to the CPS to decide whether to bring charges against any of the 136 people interviewed.
On 4 June 2007 the CPS asked the police to undertake further enquiries, following reports that the police were pressing for Tony Blair to be called as a prosecution witness in any trial.
On 7 July 2007 the CPS confirmed that they had all the information they needed from the police to decide whether to bring any charges, and it was confirmed that the new Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, would take no role in the case, to avoid the appearance of political influence.
On 20 July 2007 the BBC reported that the CPS would bring no charges. The CPS stated, in its reasoning for this decision, that "If one person makes an offer, etc., in the hope or expectation of being granted an honour, or in the belief that it might put him/her in a more favourable position when nominations are subsequently being considered, that does not of itself constitute an offence. Conversely, if one person grants, etc., an honour to another in recognition of (in effect, as a reward for) the fact that that other has made a gift, etc., that does not of itself constitute an offence. For a case to proceed, the prosecution must have a realistic prospect of being able to prove that the two people agreed that the gift, etc., was in exchange for an honour." and that "There is no direct evidence of any such agreement between any two people subject of this investigation"
investigation, which led to his resignation from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
. At that time a Downing Street
spokesman said "It's nonsense to suggest that honours are awarded for giving money to an academy
.". This was later contradicted when it was confirmed that the 'citations' explaining the case for putting Sir David Garrard and Barry Townsley in the House of Lords 'prominently' featured their role in helping academy schools. Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister wanted their political support in the Lords for the controversial policy, adding that the Prime Minister felt that anyone who gave their time, commitment and money to establish an academy - to help children in previously failing schools - 'had a strong claim to be considered for an honour'. 'What we wanted was people with expertise in academies as working peers, taking the Labour whip, who could actively contribute with a massive amount of knowledge to the debate on education in the House of Lords.'
Garrard gave £2.4 m for an academy in Bexley
, south London. Townsley gave £1.5 m for another in west London.
confirmed his knowledge of the loans but denied any connection between the large loans from three private individuals and whether they were subsequently nominated for honours. Blair said all three men were known party donors and would have made excellent Labour "working peers". He suggested that further changes to the honours system might be needed.
When questioned, the PM said he did not think Dromey had revealed details of his lack of involvement in the handling of the private loans in order to undermine or implicate either the PM or 10 Downing Street
. Dromey's very public expression of concern - he toured various television channels to be interviewed on the matter - raised suspicion among some supporters of Blair that his actions were deliberately designed to embarrass the Prime Minister and consequently benefit Prime Minister in-waiting Chancellor Gordon Brown
. Dromey denied this, saying he had been forced to go public when his persistent questioning failed to satisfactorily resolve the matter.
The police were reported as pressing for Blair to be called as a prosecution witness in any trial according to reports on June 3, 2007.
stated "The treasurer should know about all the fundraising issues that arise."
However, he later called into question Dromey's competence, saying he had "serious questions about Jack Dromey's capacity" as Labour treasurer and the fact Dromey did not know about the loans meant "you have to wonder how well he was doing his work" finally adding, "I don't know why Jack behaved as he did." He rejected as "nonsense" a suggestion that the treasurer had spoken publicly about the loans to speed up the transition of power from Blair to Chancellor Gordon Brown.
, chairman of Labour's governing body, the NEC
, accused Charles Clarke of speaking out of turn and defended party treasurer Jack Dromey. He said the treasurer "shouldn't be criticised" and had "acted perfectly properly". It was "absolutely clear that the reasons that NEC officers, including the elected party treasurer, did not know about the loans had nothing to do with any failings on their part". He added: "Jack Dromey has always carried out his responsibilities with great diligence and retained the absolute confidence of the NEC in ensuring that this issue is dealt with." In an interview on BBC2's Newsnight
he said Clarke had not read the situation correctly. "I don't know how closely Charles has been involved in all this. He's not been on the National Executive for a number of years. I wouldn't have said it in Charles Clarke's position."
— a minister in the Department for Constitutional Affairs
— relinquished her responsibilities for overseeing electoral reform and House of Lords reform.
of 17 March 2006, left-wing Labour MP Diane Abbott
said:
described the issue with characteristic bluntness:
defended the loans with the BBC quoting him as saying:
On 31 March 2006 McCartney said the Conservative Party still looked like they had "something to hide" by not revealing the identity of their foreign lenders. "We need to know who these people are, where they reside, where they pay tax, how much they lent and on what terms. "It is not up to the Tories to claim that they did not breach the law. That's the job of the Electoral Commission. "By failing to provide these details the Conservatives and David Cameron are fuelling suspicion that they have even more to hide."
, the Deputy Prime Minister
, told the BBC that he was "not happy" he found out about the millions loaned to the Labour Party by reading it in the papers but insisted the loans would later appear in the party's audited accounts. He refused to give a guarantee that Labour had not given peerages for loans, saying "I am bound to say not all the information possibly is out yet and we are still looking at it."
Prescott said he favoured a change to state funding but also said he would not rule out the suggestion that private loans should be capped: "There's a kind of unhealthy approach to political financing in this country. What we need to do is have a healthy debate."
Prescott himself became involved in accusations of influence peddling
when newspapers suggested he had made planning decisions in favour of Minerva plc, a company chaired at various times by two of the lenders involved, Sir David Garrard and Andrew Rosenfeld. He told BBC One's The Politics Show
he did not "know anything" about the firm or secret loans to the party.
He said he had received the planning requirements for a skyscraper in London and the Park Place
shopping centre in Croydon
but felt the decision could be made locally. "I passed it over to Croydon and City of London Corporation. They made the decision, not me. It's quite untrue to say there was a deal or I made the decision."
Of Garrard and Rosenfeld he said, "I don't think I have ever met them. I don't know who the companies are and I certainly don't know if they were giving money to the Labour Party. I am not a great one for circulating among businessmen. I just do my damn job and therefore I resent it when these implications are made. I have not made any money from politics for God's sake. But I am here doing what I can best in public service. My reputation is important to me. My politics is important to me."
"I make my mistakes from time to time and we have to be answerable to you guys but not when it's a lie," he added.
to make it a legal requirement that loans to political parties are made public in a similar way to donations were to be urgently considered by Lord Falconer of Thoroton, then Lord Chancellor
according to reports in March 2006.//
The Conservative Party
admitted that it has engaged in similar borrowing (but did not reveal any links to nominations for peerages). Such loans have been reported in party accounts though the annual accounts are not yet published for the period covering the 2005 general election.
David Cameron's proposals are:
These proposals would also reduce the number of MPs from 646 to fewer than 600.
said he "regretted" accepting loans from abroad but insisted it had not broken the law. He said it had to pay back £5m to lenders who wanted to remain anonymous including a number of foreign nationals.
"These loans represent a very small part of our financial backing - I wish we had not done so but we have and we have now set the record clear we have repaid those loans and the matter is perfectly clear," Mr Maude told BBC Radio 5 Live
. "It would clearly have been better if we had not as things turn out but that's the way it is." He insisted the Tories had done nothing wrong and that Labour had been "much less transparent about this whole process than we have."
He said he was "very proud" of the people who lent money to the Tories and insisted they had not supported the party out of "self-interest" because, he argued, it had not stood much of a chance of gaining power in recent years.
leader Sir Menzies Campbell
said that his party had not nominated anyone for a peerage who had loaned it large sums. He said the Lib Dems received loans from three people in the period before the 2005 General Election and had declared their names and the sums lent. He urged transparency on funding, and suggested a £50,000 cap on donations by individuals and a reduction in maximum permitted party election spending from £20 m to £15 m:
was more overt; he created the title of baronet
and sold them for £1,500 each to raise money for his war in Ireland.
In the 1920s David Lloyd George
was involved in a barely concealed "cash for patronage" scandal managed by Maundy Gregory
, which resulted in the 1925 Act which barred this (purchase of peerages had not previously been illegal), and in 1976 Harold Wilson
's resignation honours list was similarly embroiled in what became known as the "Lavender List"
(supposedly hand-written on lavender paper by Marcia Williams
). This, though widely deemed to include some unsuitable and unsalubrious nominees, rewarded Wilson's friends and carried no suggestion of overt reward for money — given or loaned. Lord Kagan
, ennobled in the Lavender List, was convicted of fraud
in 1980 — for some years he had been funding Harold Wilson's Leader's office. Sir Eric Miller, knighted in the Lavender List, committed suicide in 1977 while under investigation for fraud; he too had helped fund Harold Wilson's Leader's office.
In the 1960s, Roy Thomson
had some justifiable claim to a peerage as a Canadian and later British publisher. As even his company history observes, "Roy had noted that all proprietors of newspapers seemed to become members of the House of Lords. He had also noted this was emphatically ‘a good thing’" and he showed himself ready to do whatever was required to achieve this goal, believing at first that it could be a simple open purchase but moving on to explicit lobbying of prime ministers. He contributed money to charitable bodies which were deemed to improve his chances. Eventually, having bought The Scotsman
, The Sunday Times
and later The Times
, he became sufficiently important to Harold Wilson
that he was "raised to the peerage" as Baron Thomson of Fleet
.
As recently as 2004 the issue of large donations to a political party being linked to the award of a peerage arose when Paul Drayson
donated £555,000 to the Labour Party. His company, Powderject (now part of Novartis)
, had also received a valuable government contract to make vaccines.
Media of the United Kingdom
Media of the United Kingdom consist of several different types of communications media: television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Web sites. The UK also has a strong music industry. The UK has a diverse range of providers, the most prominent being principle public service...
to a political scandal in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and the award of life peerages. A loophole in electoral law in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
means that although anyone donating even small sums of money to a political party has to declare this as a matter of public record, those loaning money at commercial rates of interest did not have to make a public declaration.
In March 2006, several men nominated for life peerages by then Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, were rejected by the House of Lords Appointments Commission
House of Lords Appointments Commission
The House of Lords Appointments Commission is a non-partisan, non-statutory, independent body in the United Kingdom. It has three roles:*to recommend people for appointment as non-party-political life peers;...
. It was later revealed they had loaned large amounts of money to the governing Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, at the suggestion of Labour fundraiser Lord Levy
Michael Levy, Baron Levy
Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy, is President of Community Service Volunteers Jewish Care, Jewish Free School and Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade ....
. Suspicion was aroused by some that the peerages were a quid pro quo
Quid pro quo
Quid pro quo most often means a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. English speakers often use the term to mean "a favour for a favour" and the phrases with almost identical meaning include: "give and take", "tit for tat", "this for that", and "you scratch my back,...
for the loans. This resulted in three complaints to the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
by Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....
MP Angus MacNeil
Angus MacNeil
Angus Brendan MacNeil is the Scottish National Party Member of Parliament for Na h-Eileanan an Iar...
, Elfyn Llwyd
Elfyn Llwyd
Elfyn Llwyd, PC is a Welsh barrister and politician. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1992, representing Meirionnydd Nant Conwy in the House of Commons from 1992 to 2010 and Dwyfor Meirionnydd since 2010...
(Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...
parliamentary leader), and a third individual who continues to remain unidentified, as a breach of the law against selling honours. The investigation was headed by Assistant Commissioner John Yates who has since resigned over the News of the World phone hacking scandal. During the investigation various members of the Labour Party (including Tony Blair), the Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
were questioned, and Labour's Lord Levy was arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed and later released on bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
. The investigation continued to have political impact throughout, as a range of stories continued to leak from the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
investigation and damaged the government and Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
.
Following the unveiling of the scandal the Labour party had to repay the loans and was said to be in financial difficulty. The police investigation was long and involved. It expanded to encompass potential charges of perverting the course of justice, apparently relating to suspected attempts to present evidence to the police in a particular way. At one point the Attorney General
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...
, Lord Goldsmith, obtained an injunction against the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, preventing them from reporting a story they claimed was in the public interest while he argued that the story was sub judice
Sub judice
In law, sub judice, Latin for "under judgment", means that a particular case or matter is currently under trial or being considered by a judge or court...
. This raised the possibility of a conflict of interest, the Attorney General being a political appointee. Tony Blair was interviewed three times as Prime Minister, though only as a witness and not under caution.
After a long review of the police file, it was reported on 20 July 2007 that the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
would not bring any charges against any of the individuals involved. Their decision stated that while peerages may have been given in exchange for loans, it could not find direct evidence that that had been agreed in advance; this direct evidence of an agreement in advance is what would be required for a successful prosecution. Notwithstanding the lack of any charges, some considered that the investigation had severely undermined Tony Blair's position, and possibly hastened his resignation as Prime Minister.
Background
Historically, hereditary peerages were awarded to members of the landowning aristocracyAristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
and royal favourites. In the late 19th century, peerages began to be awarded to industrialists with increasing frequency. Well-substantiated allegations that titles were sold during David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
's Prime Ministership led to the passing of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925
Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925
The Honours Act 1925 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that makes the sale of peerages or any other honours illegal...
. In the second half of the 20th century the granting of hereditary peerages, other than to members of the Royal Family
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
, virtually ceased, giving way to life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
ages, which have been granted since the passing of the Life Peerages Act 1958
Life Peerages Act 1958
The Life Peerages Act 1958 established the modern standards for the creation of life peers by the monarch of the United Kingdom. Life peers are barons and are members of the House of Lords for life, but their titles and membership in the Lords are not inherited by their children. Judicial life...
. They are given to a wide range of individuals on the recommendation of the leaders of the major British political parties, including opposition parties.
In May 1998, the then Chairman of the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee, former Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Cabinet Minister Lord Pym
Francis Pym
-Bibliography:****- External links :...
, told a House of Commons Select Committee that the committee considered a political donation a point in a nominee's favour as it indicated involvement in public life, and that the nominee had "put their money where his mouth is". The House of Lords Appointments Commission was established in 2000 to check the suitability of those nominated for an honour.
In the summer of 2005, a list of 28 people nominated for working peerages was prepared. The list contained 11 Labour nominees, 8 Conservatives
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, 5 Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
, 3 members of the Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
and one member of the Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...
. The Green Party of England and Wales
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...
ultimately declined to nominate. The list was referred to the Appointments Commission in the usual way. Publication of the list was delayed and stories began to appear in the press stating that the Commission had concerns about some of those nominated on grounds of their large donations to political parties. In February 2006, stockbroker Barry Townsley
Barry Townsley
Barry Stephen Townsley CBE is a British stockbroker. He sold his stockbroking business, Townsley & Co., to the Dutch private bank Insinger de Beaufort....
, who had donated £6,000 (and loaned £1 m on commercial terms) to the Labour Party and contributed £1.5 m to a City Academy under a government scheme, withdrew his acceptance on the grounds of press intrusion into his private life.
Townsley, who was the subject of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office
Serious Fraud Office (UK)
The Serious Fraud Office is an independent UK Government department that investigates and prosecutes serious or complex fraud and corruption...
, was followed by property millionaire Sir David Garrard
David Garrard
David Douglas Garrard is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent.Garrard played college football at East Carolina. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fourth round of the 2002 NFL Draft, and served as the team's starting quarterback from 2007 to 2010...
, who withdrew his name in March 2006. Sir Gulam Noon
Gulam Noon
Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, Baron Noon MBE is a British businessman originally from India. He is of Rajput extraction.-Career:He has founded and operated a number of food product companies in Southall, London, specialising in Indian cuisine...
, the British-Indian food company millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
, was also nominated by the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
after having made donations and loaned money (he also had his nomination rejected by the Appointments Commission). Sir Gulam told The Times newspaper
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
a "senior party man" told him "there was no reason why I should declare this loan because it was refundable". "I was told by this same person that because there was interest on the loan it was a commercial matter and would not come under the same party funding rules as a donation."
The list of working peers, minus the withdrawn and queried names, was published on 10 April 2006.
Chai Patel
On 8 March 2006, Dr Chai PatelChai Patel
Chaitanya Patel CBE FRCP is a British doctor, businessman and philanthropist. Born in Uganda to Indian parents, he obtained medical qualifications at the University of Southampton in 1979 and previously worked in the NHS...
(Director of the Priory healthcare group) who had donated £10,000 to the Labour Party complained that he was being rejected by the Commission. He said "It is a fact that I have donated, but what is being implicated is that I would be rewarded with a peerage. I have never asked for any favour for the money that I have donated. My children suggested that if I had not given this money, I would not be seen in this light. But I happen to support this Government. I gave money to the party because I happen to believe in what it stands for. I can't change what has happened." Patel stated that he had asked a Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
for advice on whether his human rights were being abused by the Commission.
On 29 March 2006, Patel withdrew his name from the list of nominees for a peerage. He said that at no time did he have any expectation of a reward nor had he been offered anything in return, yet on a BBC 'Today' programme he expressed the view that he wanted to serve in the Upper House (the Lords) as he felt that his life experience ensured that he could make a valuable contribution there. He has also stated in a letter to the House of Lords Appointments Commission that "I feel that, given my accumulated experience and deep sense of public service, as well as being able to devote the time to undertake the responsibility effectively, I would be able to make a contribution to the parliamentary process."
1997 Labour Party commitments
The 1997 General ElectionUnited Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
Labour Party manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
was entitled "new Labour because Britain deserves better". In the section headed "We will clean up politics", the text pointed to the debasing of democracy through Conservative MPs who had taken cash for asking questions in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. A pledge was made to the "reform of party funding to end sleaze" with the commitment to a law to require all parties to declare the source of all donations above a minimum figure, which Labour already did voluntarily. Foreign funding would be banned. These commitments were delivered in 2000 with the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets out how political parties, elections and referendums are to be regulated in the United Kingdom...
.
It also described the need to reform the House of Lords which would end the right by law of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. This commitment was delivered in 1999 with the House of Lords Act 1999
House of Lords Act 1999
The House of Lords Act 1999 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. The Act reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. For centuries, the House of Lords had included several hundred members who inherited their seats;...
. In relation to the system of appointment of life peers Labour’s stated objective was to ensure that over time party appointees as life peers would more accurately reflect the proportion of votes cast at the previous general election, a commitment that has since been altered so that the two main parties in the House of Lords should instead have approximately equal strength.
Loans
On 12 March 2006, the Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
reported that shortly before being told that he would receive a peerage, Patel had been asked to change a donation to the Labour Party he was planning to make into an unsecured loan. On 26 March 2006, The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
confirmed that it was Lord Levy
Michael Levy, Baron Levy
Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy, is President of Community Service Volunteers Jewish Care, Jewish Free School and Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade ....
who had asked Patel to switch using this unsecured loan approach. He agreed and loaned £1.5 m to the party, telling them that he would be prepared to change the loan into a donation at some point in the future. Over the next few days stories were printed which stated that the Labour Party had borrowed £3.5 million from private individuals during 2005, the year of a general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
. It was subsequently revealed that a total of £13.95 million had been loaned by wealthy individuals to support Labour's election campaign. The figures released mean the bulk of the £17.94 m the party spent on its general election campaign was paid for by loans from individuals. The terms of the loans were confidential.
Loans made on commercial terms, at between 1% and 3% above the banking base rate
Base rate
In probability and statistics, base rate generally refers to the class probabilities unconditioned on featural evidence, frequently also known as prior probabilities...
as was the case here, are not subject to reporting requirements to the Electoral Commission
Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)
The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. It regulates party and election finance and sets standards for well-run elections...
. However the Treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
of the Party, Jack Dromey
Jack Dromey
Jack Dromey MP is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington since 2010...
, stated publicly that neither he nor Labour's elected National Executive Committee
National Executive Committee
The National Executive Committee or NEC is the chief administrative body of the UK Labour Party. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, Constituency Labour Parties,...
chairman Sir Jeremy Beecham
Jeremy Beecham
Jeremy Beecham, Baron Beecham, Kt, DL is a British Labour politician and a senior figure in English local government. He was leader of Newcastle City Council and the first Chairman of theLocal Government Association...
had knowledge of or involvement in the loans and had only become aware when he read about it in the newspapers. Dromey stated that he was regularly consulted about conventional bank loans. As well as announcing his own investigation he called on the Electoral Commission to investigate the issue of political parties taking out loans from non-commercial sources.
Tribune magazine
Tribune (magazine)
Tribune is a democratic socialist weekly, founded in 1937 published in London. It is independent but supports the Labour Party from the left...
reported that Dromey had intended to reveal his inquiry exclusively in the Labour-oriented magazine later that week, but having heard that Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
intended to announce an inquiry the following day, toured television studios on the evening of 15 March 2006 announcing his inquiry (video). Dromey feared he would be blamed for the debts by an inquiry organised by 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
(Tribune 2006/3/24 p5). Dromey's announcement created much media interest to which Blair had to respond to at his monthly press conference the next day. Blair said he wanted to shake up of the honours system and improve the rules covering party funding.
The affair centred on two aspects of Labour's political fund raising activities. First, to what degree was there a tacit or implied relationship between the large scale donors and their subsequent recognition via the honours system
British honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
? Second, the rules on party funding (applicable to all political parties in the UK) require that anyone donating £5,000 or more must be named - but loans of any amount do not have to be declared provided they are made on commercial terms. This loophole raises accusations of undue secrecy and potentially calls into question the probity of those involved in procurement and handling of such large and anonymous sums, particularly when the elected party treasurer was unaware of the existence of the loans.
Lord Levy
Michael Levy, Baron Levy
Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy, is President of Community Service Volunteers Jewish Care, Jewish Free School and Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade ....
, a close friend of Tony Blair (who was the Prime Minister's personal envoy to the Middle East, as well as tennis partner), had raised funds for Labour and was identified in the press as a key figure in arranging the loans and on 17 March 2006 it was announced that the Public Administration Select Committee
Public Administration Select Committee
The Public Administration Select Committee is a Select Committee appointed by the British House of Commons to examine the reports of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and to consider matters relating to the quality and standards of administration provided by civil service departments,...
of the House of Commons had invited him to give evidence on political financing. Committee Chairman Tony Wright said:
- "With continuing speculation about whether the system of scrutiny is sufficiently robust and as part of our wider inquiry into current standards of probity in public life, we will be hearing from those charged with scrutinising nominations to ensure that there are robust safeguards against honours for sale."
Another issue was repayment: the Labour Party owed about £14 m before the election. The interest on the loans amounted to £900,000 a year and some of the loans had to be repaid within months, either through further borrowing or gifts. In these circumstances, one unanswered question concerned why Lord Levy asked for loans rather than gifts.
It was disclosed on 25 March 2006 that the only persons privy to details of the loans were Tony Blair, Lord Levy and Matt Carter
Matt Carter
Matthew John Carter is Chief Executive Officer, Burson-Marsteller UK and Chairman, Penn Schoen Berland, Europe Middle East and Africa...
.
On March 25, 2006 it was revealed that Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
had requested that parliament halt the Public Administration Select Committee
Public Administration Select Committee
The Public Administration Select Committee is a Select Committee appointed by the British House of Commons to examine the reports of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and to consider matters relating to the quality and standards of administration provided by civil service departments,...
hearing with four of the peerage nominees, Sir David Garrard, Sir Gulam Noon, and Chai Patel, Barry Townsley as it could prejudice the criminal investigation. The assistant commissioner, John Yates asked for the parliamentary investigation to be postponed.
The Guardian revealed that many of the people who had made loans to the Labour party had been major donors to charities with which Lord Levy had been involved, namely, the Community Service Volunteers
Community Service Volunteers
Community Service Volunteers is the UK's largest volunteering and training charity.CSV was founded in 1962 by Mora and Alec Dickson, who also founded Voluntary Service Overseas . In the 2004/2005 financial year, CSV had six operating companies with a total expenditure of £43 million, employing 944...
, Jewish Care
Jewish Care
Jewish Care is a British charity, working mainly in London and South East England, providing health and social welfare support services for vulnerable members of the Jewish community. Tony Blair, when he was British Prime Minister, said of the charity: "Jewish Care is not just Jewish values in...
and the NSPCC
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a United Kingdom charity campaigning and working in child protection.-History:...
. Sir David Garrard, Andrew Rosenfeld
Andrew Rosenfeld
Andrew Rosenfeld is a British businessman who was co founder, Chief Executive and Chairman of Minerva plc the FTSE 250 property investment and development Company which was founded with an issued share capital of £70,200. He sold his entire shareholding in Minerva along with other interests and...
, and Barry Townsley
Barry Townsley
Barry Stephen Townsley CBE is a British stockbroker. He sold his stockbroking business, Townsley & Co., to the Dutch private bank Insinger de Beaufort....
are patrons of Jewish Care; Richard Caring, proprietor of the Ivy
The Ivy
The Ivy is a restaurant in West Street, near Covent Garden in London. It opened in 1917 and is popular with celebrities and theatre goers. In 2000, the restaurant was awarded the Moët & Chandon London Restaurant Award for excellence....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, had raised £10 m for the NSPCC, and Sir David Garrard, Dr. Chai Patel
Chai Patel
Chaitanya Patel CBE FRCP is a British doctor, businessman and philanthropist. Born in Uganda to Indian parents, he obtained medical qualifications at the University of Southampton in 1979 and previously worked in the NHS...
, Andrew Rosenfeld, Richard Caring
Richard Caring
Richard Caring, is an English billionaire businessman of American, Italian and Jewish descent, who made his fortune in fashion, and latterly property and restaurants....
, and Derek Tullett are all connected to the Community Service Volunteers
Community Service Volunteers
Community Service Volunteers is the UK's largest volunteering and training charity.CSV was founded in 1962 by Mora and Alec Dickson, who also founded Voluntary Service Overseas . In the 2004/2005 financial year, CSV had six operating companies with a total expenditure of £43 million, employing 944...
.
In July 2006 it came to public attention that Lord Levy had allegedly told Sir Gulam Noon
Gulam Noon
Gulam Kaderbhoy Noon, Baron Noon MBE is a British businessman originally from India. He is of Rajput extraction.-Career:He has founded and operated a number of food product companies in Southall, London, specialising in Indian cuisine...
, a businessman nominated for a peerage, not to tell the Lords vetting committee about his loan to the Labour party. On 20 April 2005 Noon had agreed to lend Labour £250,000 on commercial terms. He paid the funds on 28 April. He had originally offered to make a donation of between £50,000 and £75,000 but Levy wanted £1 m. They then negotiated a loan, rather than a donation.
A letter sent to Sir Gulam at this time by Labour said that his £250,000 loan was not "reportable" under relevant legislation.
On 3 October 2006, Sir Gulam was informed by a Labour official that the prime minister was nominating him for a peerage. On 4 October 2006, Sir Gulam received the nomination forms for joining the House of Lords. These asked him to list his contributions to Labour. Sir Gulam gave the papers to his accountant, who put down the £250,000 on the form along with just over £220,000 of straight donations he had made since 2000.
On 5 October 2006 Lord Levy told Sir Gulam that he should not have included the £250,000 on the papers sent to the Lords Appointments Commission, because it was not a donation, and was therefore not legally required to be disclosed. Sir Gulam retrieved the papers from Downing Street and submitted a revised document that made no mention of the £250,000.
In March 2006, the Lords Appointments Commission found out about the loan. Its chairman, Lord Stevenson, then wrote to the prime minister asking that Sir Gulam's nomination for a peerage be withdrawn.
Full list of Labour Party Loans
On 20 March 2006 the Labour Party issued the full list of 12 lenders together with the sums involved:-
- Rod AldridgeRod AldridgeRod Aldridge OBE is the Founder and former Executive Chairman of Capita, a British company specialising in business process outsourcing, and currently Chairman of The Aldridge Foundation...
- £1 million - former Executive Chairman of Capita - Richard CaringRichard CaringRichard Caring, is an English billionaire businessman of American, Italian and Jewish descent, who made his fortune in fashion, and latterly property and restaurants....
- £2 million - owner of The IvyThe IvyThe Ivy is a restaurant in West Street, near Covent Garden in London. It opened in 1917 and is popular with celebrities and theatre goers. In 2000, the restaurant was awarded the Moët & Chandon London Restaurant Award for excellence....
, London - Gordon Crawford - £500,000 - Chairman of London Bridge Software
- Sir Christopher Evans - £1 million - Founder of Merlin Biosciences
- Sir David GarrardDavid Garrard (property developer)Sir David Eardley Garrard is a retired British property developer, who was knighted in the 2003 New Year Honours for his charity work with organizations such as the NSPCC...
- £2.3 million - Nigel MorrisNigel MorrisNigel Morris is a businessman who co-founded Capital One with Richard Fairbank, and retired as COO in 2004.He lent the Labour Party £1,000,000 as part of the Cash for peerages affair....
- £1 million - co-Founder of Capital OneCapital OneCapital One Financial Corp. is a U.S.-based bank holding company specializing in credit cards, home loans, auto loans, banking and savings products...
and Director of The Economist GroupThe Economist GroupThe Economist Group is a leading source of analysis on international business and world affairs, delivering information through a range of formats, from newspaper and magazines to conferences and electronic services... - Sir Gulam NoonGulam NoonGulam Kaderbhoy Noon, Baron Noon MBE is a British businessman originally from India. He is of Rajput extraction.-Career:He has founded and operated a number of food product companies in Southall, London, specialising in Indian cuisine...
- £250,000 - Chairman of Noon Products Ltd - Dr Chai PatelChai PatelChaitanya Patel CBE FRCP is a British doctor, businessman and philanthropist. Born in Uganda to Indian parents, he obtained medical qualifications at the University of Southampton in 1979 and previously worked in the NHS...
- £1.5 million - Andrew RosenfeldAndrew RosenfeldAndrew Rosenfeld is a British businessman who was co founder, Chief Executive and Chairman of Minerva plc the FTSE 250 property investment and development Company which was founded with an issued share capital of £70,200. He sold his entire shareholding in Minerva along with other interests and...
- £1 million - Chairman of Minerva plc - David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of TurvilleDavid Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of TurvilleDavid John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville, FRS , is a British businessman and politician. From 1992 to 1997, he served as the Chairman of Sainsbury's . He was made a life peer in 1997, and currently sits in the House of Lords as a member of the Labour Party...
- £2 m - Government Minister - Barry TownsleyBarry TownsleyBarry Stephen Townsley CBE is a British stockbroker. He sold his stockbroking business, Townsley & Co., to the Dutch private bank Insinger de Beaufort....
- £1 million - Chairman of Insinger Townsley - Derek Tullett - £400,000 -
- Rod Aldridge
-
- Total: £13,950,000
One of the lenders, Lord Sainsbury of Turville
David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville
David John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville, FRS , is a British businessman and politician. From 1992 to 1997, he served as the Chairman of Sainsbury's . He was made a life peer in 1997, and currently sits in the House of Lords as a member of the Labour Party...
was, until November 2006, a government minister. Initially Lord Sainsbury of Turville incorrectly announced that he had reported the loan to the Department of Trade and Industry's Permanent Secretary
Permanent Secretary
The Permanent secretary, in most departments officially titled the permanent under-secretary of state , is the most senior civil servant of a British Government ministry, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis...
. He later apologised for unintentionally misleading the public by confusing disclosures about a donation of £2 m with the loan for the same amount which in fact he had not reported. He faces an investigation by Sir John Bourn
John Bourn
Sir John Bourn, then an officer of the British House of Commons, was holder of the office of Comptroller and Auditor General and, as such, head of the National Audit Office. He took up his post in 1988 after a series of senior appointments in the Ministry of Defence and the Northern Ireland Office...
, head of the National Audit Office
National Audit Office (United Kingdom)
The National Audit Office is an independent Parliamentary body in the United Kingdom which is responsible for auditing central government departments, government agencies and non-departmental public bodies...
, for a possible breach of the ministerial code
Ministerial Code (United Kingdom)
The Ministerial Code is a document setting out "rules" and standards for government ministers in the United Kingdom. Separate codes exist for ministers of the Scottish Government, the Northern Ireland Executive and the Welsh Assembly Government.-History and status:Codes of conduct for ministers...
.
Conservative Party loans
On 31 March 2006 the Conservative Party published a list of 13 wealthy individuals and companies to whom it owed a total of £15.95 million:-
- Michael Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft - £3.6 m
- Cringle Corporation - £450,000
- Dame Vivien DuffieldVivien DuffieldDame Vivien Duffield, DBE , is an English philanthropist.-Career:The daughter of millionaire businessman Sir Charles Clore and his wife, Lady Francine, Vivien Louise Duffield was educated at the Lycée Français, Heathfield School and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University where she read languages...
- £250,000 - Johan EliaschJohan EliaschJohan Eliasch, born in Sweden in 1962, is the Chairman and CEO of Head N.V., the global sporting goods group, and is the former Special Representative of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom....
- £2.6 m - Graham Facks-Martin - £50,000
- Michael HintzeMichael HintzeMichael Hintze is an Australian/British businessman, philanthropist and political patron, based in the United Kingdom. According to the latest Forbes Rich List, he is the world’s 880th richest person, worth $1.2 billion.-Early life:...
- £2.5 m - owner of CQS Management - Irvine Laidlaw, Baron LaidlawIrvine Laidlaw, Baron LaidlawIrvine Alan Stewart Laidlaw, Baron Laidlaw is a Scottish businessman, and a member of the House of Lords...
- £3.5 m - Alan Lewis - £100,000
- Raymond Richards (deceased) - £1 m
- Victoria, Lady de Rothschild - £1 m
- Leonard Steinberg, Baron SteinbergLeonard Steinberg, Baron SteinbergLeonard Steinberg, Baron Steinberg was a British life peer and multi-millionaire businessman.Born in Belfast on 1 August 1936, Steinberg was the founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Stanley Leisure Ltd...
- £250,000 - Charles WigoderCharles WigoderCharles Wigoder is an English telecommunications entrepreneur and philanthropist, associated with building both Peoples Phone and Telecom Plus into substantial and successful businessses.- Biography :...
- £100,000 - Chief Executive of Telecom PlusTelecom PlusTelecom Plus PLC is a multi-utility supplier based in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The Company was founded in 1996 as a telecommunications business...
-
- Total: £15,950,000
The identity of 10 backers it had repaid - including a number of foreign nationals - was not revealed. These loans had totalled £5 million. Some of these lenders were concerned not to reveal their identity fearing that it might compromise their existing business arrangements with the government. Their details, including one foreign backer, will be provided "in confidence" to the Electoral Commission
Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)
The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. It regulates party and election finance and sets standards for well-run elections...
. Initially the party had sought not to disclose to anyone the names of two lenders who requested confidentiality.
The party had an outstanding £16 million bank loan and £4.7 million was owed to local Conservative Party associations.
The Electoral Commission welcomed the decision to publish the list - but said it had written to the party asking for more details on the loan terms.
Criminal investigation
Corrupt procurement and award of honours is legislated against by the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925
The Honours Act 1925 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that makes the sale of peerages or any other honours illegal...
and the Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889
Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889
The Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
and the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
investigated the three complaints that they had received under these Acts. The police are also investigating whether false declarations were made to the Electoral Commission
Electoral Commission (United Kingdom)
The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. It regulates party and election finance and sets standards for well-run elections...
, which is an offence under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets out how political parties, elections and referendums are to be regulated in the United Kingdom...
. On 27 March they gave MPs more details of its inquiry into the complaints and the Public Administration Select Committee
Public Administration Select Committee
The Public Administration Select Committee is a Select Committee appointed by the British House of Commons to examine the reports of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and to consider matters relating to the quality and standards of administration provided by civil service departments,...
agreed to postpone its hearing on this issue in order not to prejudice possible police action. The criminal inquiry and the Electoral Commission investigation both stretch back to 2001.
6 April 2006 - Electoral Commission announced that its own investigation was to be suspended until the police completed their inquiries. The Electoral Commission was not satisfied that election funding laws had not been breached.
Metropolitan Police investigation
13 April 2006 - The Metropolitan Police arrested former government adviser Desmond Smith under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act. Smith, headteacher of All Saints Catholic School and Technology CollegeAll Saints School Dagenham
All Saints Catholic School and Technology College is a Roman Catholic secondary school located on Terling Road, Dagenham in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.-Status:...
, was a council member of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust is an independent, not-for-profit, membership organisation with headquarters in the United Kingdom, dedicated to raising standards and achievement in secondary schools in England and internationally...
, which helped the government recruit sponsors for the City Academy
Academy (England)
In the education system of England, an academy is a school that is directly funded by central government and independent of control by local government in England. An academy may receive additional support from personal or corporate sponsors, either financially or in kind...
programme. Lord Levy was the President of The Council of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
12 July 2006 - Lord Levy
Michael Levy, Baron Levy
Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy, is President of Community Service Volunteers Jewish Care, Jewish Free School and Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade ....
was arrested by the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
in connection with the enquiry.
20 September 2006 - Businessman Christopher Evans
Christopher Evans (businessman)
Professor Sir Christopher Thomas Evans, OBE, PhD, is a biotechnology entrepreneur in the United Kingdom.Originally from Port Talbot, Wales, he was educated in microbiology at Imperial College London then obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Hull, followed by a research fellowship at the...
was arrested by police in connection with the enquiry.
22 November 2006 - The police questioned a serving Cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
minister, for the first time, as a witness in the investigation, Secretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...
Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hope Hewitt is an Australian-born British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Leicester West from 1997 until 2010. She served in the Cabinet until 2007, most recently as Health Secretary....
.
14 December 2006 - Police questioned Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
at Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
as a witness; he was not arrested or interviewed under caution.
15 December 2006 - Police questioned Jack McConnell
Jack McConnell
Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale is a British Labour life peer in the House of Lords. He was third First Minister of Scotland from 2001 to 2007, making him the longest serving First Minister in the history of the Scottish Parliament...
, the First Minister
First Minister of Scotland
The First Minister of Scotland is the political leader of Scotland and head of the Scottish Government. The First Minister chairs the Scottish Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Scottish Government policy...
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
January 2007 - Police questioned, under caution, John McTernan
John McTernan
John McTernan is a British Labour member, political strategist and commentator. He is currently a columnist for The Scotsman and blogs for the Daily Telegraph.-Career:...
, the Director of Political Operations at 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
seconded to the Scottish Labour Party
Scottish Labour Party
The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
to run its campaign for the Scottish Parliament general election of 3 May 2007.
19 January 2007 - Ruth Turner
Ruth Turner (political advisor)
Ruth Turner , was formerly Director of Government Relations within Tony Blair's Downing Street office.-Biography:...
, Director of Government Relations at 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
, was arrested by police under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act and also on suspicion of perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice, in English, Canadian , and Irish law, is a criminal offence in which someone prevents justice from being served on himself or on another party...
. She was later released on bail. She was the first salaried Government official to be arrested in the inquiry, which followed a search of 10 Downing Street's computer systems by an independent IT expert.
26 January 2007 - Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
was questioned in Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
for a second time—once again, as a witness and not under caution. At the request of police the 45 minute interview was not publicly revealed until 1 February 2007, for what they described as "operational reasons". A Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
spokesperson stated that Blair was only being "interviewed as a witness" but declined to state whether the interview related to alleged breaches of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act or alleged perversion of the course of justice. However, on June 25, 2007 Channel 4 news reported that the police had originally asked for an interview under caution, and that Blair had said that this would require him to resign as Prime Minister. The police had then re-considered and interviewed him as a witness, rather than suspect.
30 January 2007 - Lord Levy
Michael Levy, Baron Levy
Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy, is President of Community Service Volunteers Jewish Care, Jewish Free School and Jewish Lads' and Girls' Brigade ....
was arrested again on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice
Perverting the course of justice, in English, Canadian , and Irish law, is a criminal offence in which someone prevents justice from being served on himself or on another party...
, while still on bail from the previous arrest. He was subsequently bailed.
7 February 2007 - The Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
confirmed that head teacher Des Smith will not face any charges.
20 February 2007 - On reporting to a police station under her bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
terms, Ruth Turner
Ruth Turner (political advisor)
Ruth Turner , was formerly Director of Government Relations within Tony Blair's Downing Street office.-Biography:...
was interviewed for a second time and re-bailed.
2 March 2007 - The Attorney General
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...
, Lord Goldsmith obtained an injunction to prevent the BBC from broadcasting a story about the investigation, relating to an email that the BBC had seen.
5 March 2007 - After a request to the Attorney General, the BBC was allowed to reveal that the email was sent by Number 10 aide Ruth Turner to Tony Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, and concerned Labour's chief fundraiser Lord Levy The BBC were still not allowed to reveal the contents of the email.
6 March 2007 - After both the police and the attorney general failed to obtain an injunction, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper revealed that the police had shifted their focus from whether there was an effort to sell peerages to whether there has been a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. It emerged that Turner and Levy had a meeting in 2006, an account of which was passed by her lawyers to the police, and the police were seeking clarification of whether Levy had asked Turner to "shape" the evidence she gave to Scotland Yard. On the same day, the Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
newspaper revealed that Ruth Turner had not actually sent the email, because she feared it would be damaging if it fell into the wrong hands. Later in the day the BBC got the injunction against them lifted, and confirmed that their story was similar in substance to that published in the Guardian.
20 April 2007 The police sent their file on the investigation to the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
.
5 June 2007 Lord Levy and Ruth Turner were re-bailed in connection with the inquiry.
26 June 2007 On the day before Tony Blair left office The Telegraph reports that American actress Courtney Coventry
Courtney Coventry
Courtney Coventry is a socialite and actress currently living in the United States. Her maiden name is Courtney Halford; the IMDB credits her under this name for two productions....
was flown into the UK at taxpayers expense to give evidence in the Cash for Honours investigation.
28 June 2007 The day after Tony Blair left office as Prime Minister it was reported that the police had interviewed him a third time some time in early June, and again not under caution.
23 October 2007 PASC questioned Assistant Commissioner Yates regarding the expenditure of the Metropolitan Police Commission during the Cash for Honours Investigation and the lack of subsequent charges.
Crown Prosecution Service assessment
The Metropolitan Police team, investigating the affair and led by Assistant Commissioner John Yates handed its main file on the cash for peerages inquiry to the Crown Prosecution ServiceCrown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
(CPS) on Friday 20 April. Under English law, it is up to the CPS to decide whether to bring charges against any of the 136 people interviewed.
On 4 June 2007 the CPS asked the police to undertake further enquiries, following reports that the police were pressing for Tony Blair to be called as a prosecution witness in any trial.
On 7 July 2007 the CPS confirmed that they had all the information they needed from the police to decide whether to bring any charges, and it was confirmed that the new Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, would take no role in the case, to avoid the appearance of political influence.
On 20 July 2007 the BBC reported that the CPS would bring no charges. The CPS stated, in its reasoning for this decision, that "If one person makes an offer, etc., in the hope or expectation of being granted an honour, or in the belief that it might put him/her in a more favourable position when nominations are subsequently being considered, that does not of itself constitute an offence. Conversely, if one person grants, etc., an honour to another in recognition of (in effect, as a reward for) the fact that that other has made a gift, etc., that does not of itself constitute an offence. For a case to proceed, the prosecution must have a realistic prospect of being able to prove that the two people agreed that the gift, etc., was in exchange for an honour." and that "There is no direct evidence of any such agreement between any two people subject of this investigation"
Connection with education funding
Desmond Smith was the subject of a Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
investigation, which led to his resignation from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust is an independent, not-for-profit, membership organisation with headquarters in the United Kingdom, dedicated to raising standards and achievement in secondary schools in England and internationally...
. At that time a Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
spokesman said "It's nonsense to suggest that honours are awarded for giving money to an academy
Academy (England)
In the education system of England, an academy is a school that is directly funded by central government and independent of control by local government in England. An academy may receive additional support from personal or corporate sponsors, either financially or in kind...
.". This was later contradicted when it was confirmed that the 'citations' explaining the case for putting Sir David Garrard and Barry Townsley in the House of Lords 'prominently' featured their role in helping academy schools. Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister wanted their political support in the Lords for the controversial policy, adding that the Prime Minister felt that anyone who gave their time, commitment and money to establish an academy - to help children in previously failing schools - 'had a strong claim to be considered for an honour'. 'What we wanted was people with expertise in academies as working peers, taking the Labour whip, who could actively contribute with a massive amount of knowledge to the debate on education in the House of Lords.'
Garrard gave £2.4 m for an academy in Bexley
Bexley
Bexley is an South East London]] in the London Borough of Bexley, London, England. It is located on the banks of the River Cray south of the Roman Road, Watling Street...
, south London. Townsley gave £1.5 m for another in west London.
Political reaction
There was widespread support for an enquiry and some calls to revise the process of party political funding.Tony Blair
Speaking at his monthly news briefing on 16 March 2006, Tony BlairTony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
confirmed his knowledge of the loans but denied any connection between the large loans from three private individuals and whether they were subsequently nominated for honours. Blair said all three men were known party donors and would have made excellent Labour "working peers". He suggested that further changes to the honours system might be needed.
When questioned, the PM said he did not think Dromey had revealed details of his lack of involvement in the handling of the private loans in order to undermine or implicate either the PM or 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
. Dromey's very public expression of concern - he toured various television channels to be interviewed on the matter - raised suspicion among some supporters of Blair that his actions were deliberately designed to embarrass the Prime Minister and consequently benefit Prime Minister in-waiting Chancellor Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
. Dromey denied this, saying he had been forced to go public when his persistent questioning failed to satisfactorily resolve the matter.
The police were reported as pressing for Blair to be called as a prosecution witness in any trial according to reports on June 3, 2007.
Charles Clarke
Also on 16 March 2006 the then Home SecretaryHome Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
stated "The treasurer should know about all the fundraising issues that arise."
However, he later called into question Dromey's competence, saying he had "serious questions about Jack Dromey's capacity" as Labour treasurer and the fact Dromey did not know about the loans meant "you have to wonder how well he was doing his work" finally adding, "I don't know why Jack behaved as he did." He rejected as "nonsense" a suggestion that the treasurer had spoken publicly about the loans to speed up the transition of power from Blair to Chancellor Gordon Brown.
Sir Jeremy Beecham
Sir Jeremy BeechamJeremy Beecham
Jeremy Beecham, Baron Beecham, Kt, DL is a British Labour politician and a senior figure in English local government. He was leader of Newcastle City Council and the first Chairman of theLocal Government Association...
, chairman of Labour's governing body, the NEC
National Executive Committee
The National Executive Committee or NEC is the chief administrative body of the UK Labour Party. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, Constituency Labour Parties,...
, accused Charles Clarke of speaking out of turn and defended party treasurer Jack Dromey. He said the treasurer "shouldn't be criticised" and had "acted perfectly properly". It was "absolutely clear that the reasons that NEC officers, including the elected party treasurer, did not know about the loans had nothing to do with any failings on their part". He added: "Jack Dromey has always carried out his responsibilities with great diligence and retained the absolute confidence of the NEC in ensuring that this issue is dealt with." In an interview on BBC2's Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
he said Clarke had not read the situation correctly. "I don't know how closely Charles has been involved in all this. He's not been on the National Executive for a number of years. I wouldn't have said it in Charles Clarke's position."
Harriet Harman
In a measure aimed to avoid any conflict of interest, Dromey's wife Harriet HarmanHarriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman QC is a British Labour Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessorPeckham constituency from 1982 to 1997...
— a minister in the Department for Constitutional Affairs
Department for Constitutional Affairs
The Department for Constitutional Affairs was a United Kingdom government department. Its creation was announced on 12 June 2003 with the intention of replacing the Lord Chancellor's Department...
— relinquished her responsibilities for overseeing electoral reform and House of Lords reform.
Diane Abbott
Writing of Dromey's reaction in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of 17 March 2006, left-wing Labour MP Diane Abbott
Diane Abbott
Diane Julie Abbott is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons...
said:
- "But perhaps Mr Dromey is furious because he has seen things that have not yet been made public. Perhaps facts have finally been revealed to him about new Labour’s inner circle and their adventures in influence-peddling and in the world of the super-rich that he really did not know before. And the enormity of what he has discovered may have made him determined that whoever else may be swept away in the ensuing scandal, it will not be him."
Clare Short
Former cabinet minister and Blair critic Clare ShortClare Short
Clare Short is a British politician, and a member of the Labour Party. She was the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood from 1983 to 2010; for most of this period she was a Labour Party MP, but she resigned the party whip in 2006 and served the remainder of her term as an Independent. She...
described the issue with characteristic bluntness:
- "What we're getting is a bubble of these clever people who've captured the state, don't need a party, don't need any members, don't have turbulent people having opinions, who then get money from rich people and run our state without consulting anyone else."
Ian McCartney
The Labour Party chairman Ian McCartneyIan McCartney
Sir Ian McCartney is a former politician, who was the British Labour Party Member of Parliament for the Makerfield constituency between 1987 to 2010, and served in the Cabinet, from 2003 to 2007, when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister...
defended the loans with the BBC quoting him as saying:
- "Bear in mind too that we fought the 2005 election in the face of a very heavily funded Conservative campaign – a large part of which was reportedly funded by loans, and targeted at individual Labour MPs."
On 31 March 2006 McCartney said the Conservative Party still looked like they had "something to hide" by not revealing the identity of their foreign lenders. "We need to know who these people are, where they reside, where they pay tax, how much they lent and on what terms. "It is not up to the Tories to claim that they did not breach the law. That's the job of the Electoral Commission. "By failing to provide these details the Conservatives and David Cameron are fuelling suspicion that they have even more to hide."
John Prescott
John PrescottJohn Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
, the Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some counties, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both...
, told the BBC that he was "not happy" he found out about the millions loaned to the Labour Party by reading it in the papers but insisted the loans would later appear in the party's audited accounts. He refused to give a guarantee that Labour had not given peerages for loans, saying "I am bound to say not all the information possibly is out yet and we are still looking at it."
Prescott said he favoured a change to state funding but also said he would not rule out the suggestion that private loans should be capped: "There's a kind of unhealthy approach to political financing in this country. What we need to do is have a healthy debate."
Prescott himself became involved in accusations of influence peddling
Influence peddling
Influence peddling is the illegal practice of using one's influence in government or connections with persons in authority to obtain favors or preferential treatment for another, usually in return for payment. Also called traffic of influence or trading in influence ...
when newspapers suggested he had made planning decisions in favour of Minerva plc, a company chaired at various times by two of the lenders involved, Sir David Garrard and Andrew Rosenfeld. He told BBC One's The Politics Show
The Politics Show
The Politics Show is an hour long BBC One television political programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays. The programme usually starts at midday, but is often earlier or later when sporting events clash in the schedules. It was launched in 2003 and was originally presented by Jeremy...
he did not "know anything" about the firm or secret loans to the party.
He said he had received the planning requirements for a skyscraper in London and the Park Place
Park Place (Croydon)
Park Place was a shopping centre which had been expected to open in Croydon, England by 2011, although this date has been pushed back and building has not started. It is part of the Croydon Vision 2020 re-generation scheme...
shopping centre in Croydon
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
but felt the decision could be made locally. "I passed it over to Croydon and City of London Corporation. They made the decision, not me. It's quite untrue to say there was a deal or I made the decision."
Of Garrard and Rosenfeld he said, "I don't think I have ever met them. I don't know who the companies are and I certainly don't know if they were giving money to the Labour Party. I am not a great one for circulating among businessmen. I just do my damn job and therefore I resent it when these implications are made. I have not made any money from politics for God's sake. But I am here doing what I can best in public service. My reputation is important to me. My politics is important to me."
"I make my mistakes from time to time and we have to be answerable to you guys but not when it's a lie," he added.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton
Amendments to the Electoral Administration ActElectoral Administration Act 2006
The Electoral Administration Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed on 11 July 2006. The Bill was amended during its passage through the House of Lords to require political parties to declare large loans; this followed the "Cash for Peerages" scandal...
to make it a legal requirement that loans to political parties are made public in a similar way to donations were to be urgently considered by Lord Falconer of Thoroton, then Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
according to reports in March 2006.//
David Cameron
"We've got to stop this perception that parties can somehow be bought by big donations either from very rich people, or trade unions, or businesses."The Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
admitted that it has engaged in similar borrowing (but did not reveal any links to nominations for peerages). Such loans have been reported in party accounts though the annual accounts are not yet published for the period covering the 2005 general election.
David Cameron's proposals are:
- Ban on all loans unless from financial institutions on fully commercial terms
- £50,000 cap on donations
- Tax relief on donations up to £3,000
- State funding of £1.20 per vote won at general elections for parties with MPs, plus annual payment equal to 60p per vote
- New commission to handle honours
- General election party funds limited to £15 m
These proposals would also reduce the number of MPs from 646 to fewer than 600.
Francis Maude
Conservative Party chairman Francis MaudeFrancis Maude
Francis Anthony Aylmer Maude is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he currently serves as the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, and as a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Horsham...
said he "regretted" accepting loans from abroad but insisted it had not broken the law. He said it had to pay back £5m to lenders who wanted to remain anonymous including a number of foreign nationals.
"These loans represent a very small part of our financial backing - I wish we had not done so but we have and we have now set the record clear we have repaid those loans and the matter is perfectly clear," Mr Maude told BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
. "It would clearly have been better if we had not as things turn out but that's the way it is." He insisted the Tories had done nothing wrong and that Labour had been "much less transparent about this whole process than we have."
He said he was "very proud" of the people who lent money to the Tories and insisted they had not supported the party out of "self-interest" because, he argued, it had not stood much of a chance of gaining power in recent years.
Sir Menzies Campbell
Former Liberal DemocratLiberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
leader Sir Menzies Campbell
Menzies Campbell
Sir Walter Menzies "Ming" Campbell, CBE, QC, MP is a British Liberal Democrat politician and advocate, and a retired sprinter. He is the Member of Parliament for North East Fife, and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.Campbell held the British record...
said that his party had not nominated anyone for a peerage who had loaned it large sums. He said the Lib Dems received loans from three people in the period before the 2005 General Election and had declared their names and the sums lent. He urged transparency on funding, and suggested a £50,000 cap on donations by individuals and a reduction in maximum permitted party election spending from £20 m to £15 m:
- "There should be no secret loans of any kind, and if the lord chancellor is proposing that in legislation currently before Parliament, that's something we will most certainly support."
Previous instances
The expression "cash for peerages" has a long history. Titles have constantly been granted to court favorites and allies. James IJames I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
was more overt; he created the title of baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
and sold them for £1,500 each to raise money for his war in Ireland.
In the 1920s David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
was involved in a barely concealed "cash for patronage" scandal managed by Maundy Gregory
Maundy Gregory
Arthur Maundy Gregory was a British theatre producer and political fixer who is best remembered for selling honours for Prime Minister David Lloyd George. He may also have been involved with the Zinoviev Letter, the disappearance of Victor Grayson, and the suspicious death of his platonic...
, which resulted in the 1925 Act which barred this (purchase of peerages had not previously been illegal), and in 1976 Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
's resignation honours list was similarly embroiled in what became known as the "Lavender List"
1976 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours
The 1976 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours were announced on 27 May 1976 to mark the resignation of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The list of honours became known satirically as the "Lavender List".-Controversy:...
(supposedly hand-written on lavender paper by Marcia Williams
Marcia Falkender, Baroness Falkender
Marcia Matilda Falkender, Baroness Falkender CBE , formerly Marcia Williams , is a British Labour politician, being first the private secretary for, and then the political secretary and head of political office to, Harold Wilson.-Background and early career:Born Marcia Field, Falkender was educated...
). This, though widely deemed to include some unsuitable and unsalubrious nominees, rewarded Wilson's friends and carried no suggestion of overt reward for money — given or loaned. Lord Kagan
Joseph Kagan, Baron Kagan
Joseph Kagan, Baron Kagan was a British industrialist and the founder of Kagan Textiles, of Elland, which made raincoats from the waterproof Gannex fabric he had invented. Gannex raincoats were most famously worn by Harold Wilson...
, ennobled in the Lavender List, was convicted of fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
in 1980 — for some years he had been funding Harold Wilson's Leader's office. Sir Eric Miller, knighted in the Lavender List, committed suicide in 1977 while under investigation for fraud; he too had helped fund Harold Wilson's Leader's office.
In the 1960s, Roy Thomson
Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet
Roy Herbert Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet GBE was a Canadian newspaper proprietor and media entrepreneur.-Career:...
had some justifiable claim to a peerage as a Canadian and later British publisher. As even his company history observes, "Roy had noted that all proprietors of newspapers seemed to become members of the House of Lords. He had also noted this was emphatically ‘a good thing’" and he showed himself ready to do whatever was required to achieve this goal, believing at first that it could be a simple open purchase but moving on to explicit lobbying of prime ministers. He contributed money to charitable bodies which were deemed to improve his chances. Eventually, having bought The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
, The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
and later The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, he became sufficiently important to Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
that he was "raised to the peerage" as Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1964 for the newspaper magnate Roy Thomson...
.
As recently as 2004 the issue of large donations to a political party being linked to the award of a peerage arose when Paul Drayson
Paul Drayson, Baron Drayson
Paul Rudd Drayson, Baron Drayson PC is a British businessman, amateur racing driver and politician. He was Minister of Science in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills until May 2010, where he replaced Ian Pearson. In June 2009 he was additionally appointed as Minister of State for...
donated £555,000 to the Labour Party. His company, Powderject (now part of Novartis)
Novartis
Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...
, had also received a valuable government contract to make vaccines.
See also
- Reform of the House of LordsLords ReformFor more than a century, governments in the United Kingdom have attempted to find a way to undertake a comprehensive reform of the House of Lords, which is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
- Cash-for-questions affairCash-for-questions affairThe "Cash-for-questions affair" was one of the biggest political scandals of the 1990s in the United Kingdom.It began in October 1994 when The Guardian newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates, had bribed two Conservative Members of...
- Cash for InfluenceCash for InfluenceCash for Influence is the name given by some in the media to a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2009 concerning four Labour Party Life Peers offering to help make amendments to legislation for up to £120,000...
- Political partiesPolitical PartiesPolitical Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy is a book by sociologist Robert Michels, published in 1911 , and first introducing the concept of iron law of oligarchy...
- David Abrahams (Labour party donor)