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Controversial donor aids Pendle Tory campaign (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Controversial donor aids Pendle Tory campaign
3:19pm Sunday 31st May 2009
A CONTROVERSIAL Conservative donor has given cash for the party’s campaign in Pendle, it has been revealed.
The borough’s Labour MP Gordon Prentice has claimed the Tories were ‘trying to buy’ Pendle with Lord Ashcroft pumping in £250,000.
Conservative candidate for Pendle, Andrew Stephenson, has hit back at the ‘insulting claims’.
But he has revealed that the party was spending ‘£50,000 to £60,000’ a year in the borough — and that Lord Ashcroft was helping to pay for party work in Pendle.
Lord Ashcroft’s donations to the Conservative Party have proved controversial as he has declined to say whether he is a resident or pays taxes in the UK.
Labour MPs have regularly asked whether the donations complied with laws banning overseas' donations.
For a company to make donations to a political party it has to be registered in the UK and carry out business here.
Tory chiefs insist Lord Ashcroft’s donations were both "legal and permissible".
In February The Electoral Commission announced it was conducting a formal investigation into the multi-million pound donations made by Bearwood Corporate Services, which millions of pounds of Lord Ashcroft’s donations have come through.
Mr Prentice, in a posting on his website, claimed: “I believe tax exiles should not be allowed to bankroll UK political parties. For the past two years a tsunami of Ashcroft money has engulfed my Pendle constituency.
“The Lib Dem peer Tony Greaves, a constituent of mine, estimates that the Conservatives are on course to spend £250,000 here.”
Official Electoral Commission accounts for Pendle Tories for 2007, the last year available, show the organisation spent £56,000 in the constituency.
Mr Stephenson said it would be a similar amount this year.
He added: “The figures quoted by Mr Prentice are completely wrong and it is insulting to suggest the people of Pendle could be bought by anyone on any issue.
"All this just shows how nervous he is about the General Election.”
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Your Say YourTelegraph
Izanears, Nelson says...
11:22am Mon 1 Jun 09
swizz, Nelson says...
4:11pm Mon 1 Jun 09
And if that was the case then so what!
All the Liberal trash I receive is delivered by Pakistanis.
Why raise the issue of who posted what unless you are trying to create a backlash?
coates warder, barlick says...
8:22pm Mon 1 Jun 09
David Whipp, Barnoldswick says...
11:29pm Mon 1 Jun 09
I asked the Tory agent about them this morning. He also said they had people from the Ukraine working on the campaign through an 'international workers exchange scheme'.
Talk about shipping folk in!
Reaction on the doorstep in Barlick has been strongly negative, with folk saying they shouldn't be bringing workers in like that for political campaigning.
I've also heard that the Tories are paying people £25 per 1,000 leaflets for delivery.
(Perhaps there are also jobs for moat cleaners, duck house builders and household servants as well? Applications - in Belarussian? - to your Tory candidate.)
coates warder, barlick says...
3:53am Tue 2 Jun 09
Mike Warner, Barnoldswick says...
11:31pm Tue 2 Jun 09
I did and there on the Electoral Commission are the 2008 accounts showing a Conservative Central Office donation of not just one penny,but 3.5 million of them. At £35,445, this is a staggering 42.8% of their total income of £82,752.
What does it say about his judgement that he thought he could get away with such a porky?
The Electoral Commission has already launched a major investigation into Lord Ascroft. Ihave asked them to investigate Pendle Conservatives as well. I have also asked Pendle Council whether all Conservative Cllrs, as required by law, have declared an interest in each of the companies giving them money.
Andrew is not going to be popular!
Mike Warner
Former Pendle Cllr
TORY CANDIDATE: Andrew Stephenson
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David Whipp, Barnoldswick says...
10:31pm Sun 31 May 09
How 'economical with the truth' is that? (I get told off for using the word 'lying'...)
The latest (2008)accounts from Pendle Tories show expenditure of £81,744.25 in the year just gone!
That figure doesn't appear to include the cost of monthly Royal Mail delivered newspapers or the professional phone bank they are using, so the true figure will be much higher.
In another local newspaper this week, Mr Stephenson's agent George Askew, is at best "disingenuous" when he states that "all the money being spent by Pendle Conservatives during the formal campaign has been raised locally."
Unfortunately for the Tories, all the money in the world can't make up for not having people on the ground prepared to work and deliver leaflets when Royal Mail is ruled out because of the elections.
Without outside help, the Tories in Pendle are struggling. (Today, they even had a team who appeared to have come all thee way from Russia to deliver leaflets...)
Us Liberals may not be able to afford the glossy offerings of the other parties, but at least our 'cheap and cheerful' flyers are produced here, paid for and delivered by Pendle people. (People who've paid their taxes and haven't a moat, duck house or servant to rub between them...)