The Times has a story on peerages and the Lib Dems. This is the first big test for Nick Clegg particularly because his law and order supremo, Chris Huhne, has a lot to say on party funding.
Lib Dems and party funding – Nick Clegg’s big test
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3 comments ↓
I just clicked on the Huhne link. It’s about a bloke called Abrahams who donated a truckload of money to the Labour Party via anonymous donations in contravention of electoral law. Have you only just become aware of this (snigger) and any chance of a comment? – after all you’ve previously campaigned to ‘clean up’ politics but have yet to comment on ANY of the funding scandals involving your party.
[...] 2 January, 2008 From The Times via Tom, this is all pretty damning stuff for the Lib Dems. Not least because the guy wanted to sit as a crossbencher rather than a lib dem. [...]
Dear Tom
Nick Clegg’s real test is will he adopt a principled approach to party funding as I set out here:
http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/2007/12/labourlib-dems.html
As you know I have been chiselling away about this ever since the Electoral Commission conducted its own inquiry in 2003/04.
It is probably only a matter of days, if that, before Labour bungles its latest chance to define a’new politics’ with any conviction. That will be in the draft bill on election-related issues, promised in the Queen’s speech post-Hayden Phillips. Any provisions for increased state-funding will signal our abject failure to come to terms with the Command Party model to our political and electoral detriment.
A clear political decision to put our own financial house in order and reject any increase in state-aid could signal a genuine ‘new politics’. But that would only be if built on with a sustained programme to re-engage active citizens as, in our case, Labour Party members willing to contribute time and money to get our candidates elected to implement our policies.
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