Electoral Commission To Investigate Ashcroft Donations

The BBC reports that the millions of pounds in donations by Belize-based tax-exile Michael Ashcroft to the Conservative party are to be investigated.

It's a start, but when oh when are we going to get a strict limit on the funding going into marginal seats, for the entire electoral cycle, not just at election time.

Lord Ashcroft

Having recently been told of a Tory MP that sometimes refers to Lord Ashcroft's Party instead of "The Conservatives", I realise that I ought to do some coverage on him.

For now, I'll just settle with a link so that others can have a read. The Guardian did this piece last November: Ashcroft: new questions about his peerage, his tax and his home

Lording it in Tax Exile

So, let's have a look at another recent big donor.

On 27th November 2007, Lord Irvine Laidlaw, gave the Conservative Party £2,990,582.20. Firstly, I do wonder how it came to be this figure. Was it such a hoot, that he just wrote some random figures on a cheque? Did he really write out "Two million, nine hundred and ninety thousand, five hundred and eighty two pounds and twenty pence"? Now that's what I'd call a big check - it'd need to be!

So who is he. Well, if you check on Wikipedia, you won't find much, but you will find the links to the Sunday Times article about his "failure to return to Britain for tax purposes", as promised before he became a Lord.