Tax Exiles Should Not be Allowed to Bankroll Political PartiesThe Political Parties and Elections Bill, currently before Parliament, could be used to close this loophole.
My recent letter to the Guardian (29 May 2009) explains: My friend Jack Straw is looking for good ideas for the reform of parliament (Party leaders agree to talks, 27 May). I have long believed that tax exiles should not be allowed to bankroll UK political parties. Unfortunately, Jack disagrees. For the past two years a tsunami of Ashcroft money - from the Belize-based Tory donor Michael Ashcroft - 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. My Commons amendment to the political parties and elections bill was signed by 216 MPs and would have closed the Ashcroft loophole, but it was not taken because of procedural fancy footwork.
I asked Dale Campbell Savours to table my amendments in the Lords and they have now been fully aired and debated. They will be voted on at the Lords report stage in mid-June, before the bill returns to the Commons. I am writing to all Labour peers asking them to support Dale and to defy the Labour whip. I want them to send the amended bill back to MPs where, Jack permitting, we can debate and vote on the matter.
Gordon Prentice MP
Lab, Pendle
22 July 2009: MP Triumphs as Tax Exiles Bill Becomes Law
A Bill which prevents rich tax exiles from making huge donations to political parties received Royal Assent last night and is now the law of the land.
The new “tax exile” provisions in the Political Parties and Elections Act represent a personal triumph for local MP, Gordon Prentice, whose single minded determination forced a change in the law.
His Commons amendments, initially opposed by the Government, were taken up, word for word, in the House of Lords by Lord Dale Campbell-Savours and pressed to a vote. For the first time ever, more Labour Peers voted against the Labour Government on one of its own measures than voted for it.
Justice Minister, Jack Straw, at that point conceded defeat. Under the Act, donors to political parties who give more than £7,500 a year will have to sign a declaration that they are UK residents for tax purposes. If they misrepresent their tax status they can be jailed.
Speaking from his constituency office in Nelson earlier today, the MP said: “It has been obvious for years, for anyone with eyes to see, that millionaire tax exiles such as the former Conservative Vice Chairman, Lord Laidlaw, were buying elections by pouring cash into target constituencies.”
“I am delighted the tax exile loophole is, at long last, to be closed. However, this part of the Bill will not take effect until after further consultation by the independent watchdog, the Electoral Commission.”
“The plain fact is this should have been done years ago. The changes will come too late to influence spending in the run up to the forthcoming General Election.”
Note to Editors: The Electoral Commission writes: The Political Parties and Elections Act has now received Royal Assent. Whilst the Bill was before Parliament, we committed to produce an enforcement policy that would set out how we intend to put these changes into effect. We have now launched a consultation on our future enforcement policy, which can be found here: www.electoralcommission.org.uk/focus-on-items/PPE
Press Clippings, etc.
09 February 2010 (The Times): Baffled students watch Dave try to hijack their generation
...Dave kept explaining how only he and the Tories could fix our broken politics. Later he was asked if he could — finally — tell us the tax status of the Tory party donor Lord Ashcroft. But Dave who, only minutes ago was a beacon of new generational transparency and openness, could not tell us. Not only that, he could not tell us why he could not tell us. It made the whole speech seem, like a two-headed snake, at odds with itself. ...---more---
08 February 2010 (The Guardian): Lord Ashcroft: does he pay tax in Britain?
Conservative mandarins still refuse to answer questions on party benefactor's UK tax status
Conservative party officials repeatedly refused to say today whether they believe the British public has any right to know the truth about the current tax status of Lord Ashcroft, the multi-millionaire who has helped bankroll the party for almost three decades.
Ashcroft, a deputy chairman of the party, was granted a seat in the Lords in March 2000 after promising to return to the UK from his home in Belize and pay UK income tax by the end of that year.
Since then, the tycoon has repeatedly declined to say if he has made good on that promise, and senior Tories have faced censure from the information commissioner for what he describes as their "evasive and obfuscatory" statements on the matter. ...
... Last month, the information commissioner ruled that the Cabinet Office had breached the act by refusing to disclose information about Ashcroft's promise, made to Labour MP Gordon Prentice, and said it had 35 days in which to do so. ...
... Donations worth millions of pounds made to the Tories from a company controlled by Ashcroft are under investigation by the Electoral Commission over whether the company is eligible to give money. ---more---
08 February 2010 (The Mirror): PM in blast at cover-up on Tory cash
Gordon Brown yesterday launched an angry attack on Tory secrecy surrounding their biggest financial backer.
Lord Ashcroft's massive donations would be illegal if he were not registered in the UK for tax purposes.
But he refuses to clarify where he is a resident. ...
... Lord Ashcroft's money pays for Conservative propaganda blitzes in key seats. ---more---
07 February 2010 (The Observer): Gordon Brown attacks 'scandal' of Lord Ashcroft donations
Gordon Brown has thrust the issue of Tory party donations to the centre of the election campaign by declaring that the secrecy surrounding its biggest financial backer – Lord Ashcroft – is "a scandal". ...
... Delivering his strongest comments yet on the "Ashcroft question", Brown said it was now the duty of journalists and opposition politicians to "press these people for answers". "It's a scandal that we haven't had proper answers about where the [Ashcroft] money has come from and what the status of this person is." ...
... Over recent months, Labour's high command has left it to the party's backbench MPs to raise questions over Ashcroft, with ministers steering clear of public comment. But Brown's intervention is evidence that Labour, which will enter the election campaign with a far smaller war chest than the Tories, is opening an aggressive new front on the funding issue. ---more---
07 February 2010 (The Guardian): Belize faces prospect of G20 sanctions over tax information
Development could politically embarrass Conservatives, whose donor is chairman of country's biggest bank
Belize could be hit with economic sanctions by G20 nations for failing to abide by international tax information sharing protocols. The move could prove uncomfortable to Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative party's largest donor, who is also chairman of the tiny Central American country's biggest bank. ...
... As the chairman of Belize's largest bank, Ashcroft is thought to have benefited from the country's growing prominence as an offshore centre. Ten years ago it had fewer than 4,000 offshore companies listed in its offshore registry. Last year there were more than 20,000. ...
... There are signs that Ashcroft is gaining more influence on Tory policy, accompanying shadow foreign minister William Hague on foreign trips. When granted his peerage in 2000, the Tories' biggest bankroller said he wanted to be known as Lord Ashcroft of Belize.
Last week the information commissioner criticised Ashcroft for failing to clarify his tax status in Britain. ---more---
02 February 2010 (Paul Flynn's Blog): Gordon Prentice moves the earth
... In an unprecedentedly tough recommendation, the Cabinet Office has been ordered to reveal within 35 days the nature of the undertaking Ashcroft made to become domiciled in the UK when he became a peer in 2000. ---more---
01 February 2010 (New Statesman Blog): High noon for Lord Ashcroft
New ruling means the peer's "undertaking" on his tax status will be revealed.
The Tories have prevaricated for years over Michael Ashcroft's tax status but their time is running out.
The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, has ordered the Cabinet Office to reveal within 35 days the nature of the "undertaking" Ashcroft made to end his tax-exile status when he became a peer. The ruling concludes that the public interest in Ashcroft and his position in the Tory party outweighs any individual right to privacy on the matter. ---more---
01 February 2010 (The Guardian): Tories evasive over Ashcroft tax status, says watchdog
The Conservative leadership is today accused of being "evasive and obfuscatory" over the tax status of Lord Ashcroft, the party's deputy chairman and biggest donor, in a ruling by the information commissioner that sharply criticises the secrecy over where he is resident for tax purposes.
The Cabinet Office has been ordered to reveal within 35 days the nature of the undertaking Ashcroft made to become domiciled in the UK when he became a peer in 2000. The move follows an appeal spanning three years through the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) by the Labour MP Gordon Prentice. ...
... The ruling says: "Since Lord Ashcroft's ennoblement, the question of where he lives has continued to be raised, leading to speculation that Lord Ashcroft has not satisfied the undertaking he gave. Statements by senior politicians concerning Lord Ashcroft's undertaking have been evasive and obfuscatory and have served to compound this speculation.
"Lord Ashcroft could have ended the speculation about his residency by making a public statement to that effect. He has chosen not to do this. He has furthered the speculation by stating that it is a private matter and, as stated on his website, 'If home is where the heart is Belize is my home'.
"In the commissioner's view there is a legitimate interest for the public to know more about Lord Ashcroft's undertaking. This flows from the legitimate public interest in understanding the process by which Lord Ashcroft's peerage was awarded, knowing the details of any conditions placed upon that award and knowing whether Lord Ashcroft has met what appears to have been a condition to his award."
Ashcroft has repeatedly refused to clarify his tax status in Britain and is separately subject to an Electoral Commission investigation into claims that millions of pounds of his donations to the Conservatives, made through his company Bearwood Corporate Services, were in breach of electoral law. The allegation is that the company was not "carrying on business" in Britain and therefore not eligible to donate. ---more---
01 February 2010 (The Independent): Reveal Ashcroft's status, officials told
Information czar orders Cabinet to come clean on Tory peer's tax residency
Cabinet officials have been told they must end the secrecy surrounding a promise made a decade ago when Michael Ashcroft, the billionaire vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, was awarded a life peerage. ...
... When he was awarded a peerage a year later, on Mr Hague's insistence, Downing Street added an unprecedented caveat that "in order to meet the requirements for a working peer, Mr Michael Ashcroft has given his clear and unequivocal assurance that he will take up permanent residence in the United Kingdom again before the end of the calendar year. He would be introduced into the House of Lords only after taking up that residence".
The Labour MP Gordon Prentice has spent more than two years battling to find out to whom Lord Ashcroft gave that promise, and whether it was made verbally or in writing.
He submitted a freedom of information request to the Cabinet Office in November 2007 but was told in January 2008 that it had been turned down because it involved "information provided in confidence". Mr Prentice immediately lodged an appeal, which was turned down in March 2008.
He then put in a complaint to the Information Commissioner, which has taken nearly two years to process. In his 36-page judgement, the Commissioner also criticised the Cabinet Office over the delays. ---more---
19 January 2010 (The Guardian): Government under fire for dithering over 'non-dom' bill
Labour faces rebellion over plans to prevent those living here but registered abroad for tax reasons from becoming MPs
The government was tonight accused of abandoning plans to fast-track a law barring "non-doms" – people living in the UK but registered abroad for tax purposes – from becoming MPs.
The Tories, Lib Dems and some backbench Labour MPs have been pressing for the ban to be included in the constitutional reform and governance bill, being debated in parliament this week and next.
Each has tabled an amendment which would bar people who don't pay tax in the UK from a place in the House of Commons or the Lords. ...
Labour backbenchers, led by the Pendle MP, Gordon Prentice, have proposed a different amendment, which would require people to be registered in the UK for tax purposes retrospectively for 10 years, in a move which he said would "flush out" Lord Ashcroft. ...
Prentice said: "There's no possibility that it would get through before the election. I'm totally mystified as to why the government refuses to act on this. The government has been dragging its feet."
Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, another Labour backbencher, said: "It's not going to happen before the general election. It's a disgrace and an outrage where we have an open goal and cross- party support to make this happen. But we're not, we're kicking it into touch."... ---more---
30 December 2009 (The Independent): Tories trying to buy power, says Straw
Justice Secretary attacks Conservatives for relying on billionaire Lord Ashcroft
David Cameron is today accused by a senior Cabinet minister of attempting to "buy" victory at the general election with a US-style campaign dominated by advertising.
Writing in The Independent, Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, predicts the Tory campaign will be the most lavish in political history and denounces Mr Cameron for relying heavily on cash supplied by the party's deputy chairman, Lord Ashcroft, who has extensive business interests in Belize. ---more---
09 December 2009 (The Independent): Critics round on Hague for staying silent about trip to corrupt isles
Shadow Foreign Secretary refuses to disclose reason for his visit to Turks and Caicos
William Hague, the shadow Foreign Secretary, was attacked yesterday for refusing to say who he met or what he did during a working visit to the Turks and Caicos Islands a year before widespread corruption was uncovered there.
...
After two weeks in which the question was put to Conservative campaign headquarters every few days, a spokesman replied: "We do not provide a running commentary on private meetings that took place almost three years ago. However, it is a matter of public record that Lord Ashcroft occasionally attends meetings in his capacity as deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.
...
According to an inside source, Lord Ashcroft's office at Conservative campaign headquarters was consulted before the answer to The Independent's question was drawn up.
...
Tax accounts: What they say about Ashcroft's status
Eric Pickles, the Tory party chairman, is the latest politician to be wrong-footed by Michael Ashcroft's insistence on keeping his affairs private.
Last week, Mr Pickles suggested that Lord Ashcroft, who is his deputy chairman, would be "very happy" to go on BBC Radio 4's Today to say whether he is a UK taxpayer. But when the programme invited him to appear, he would not.
"We did try to contact him about his tax affairs but we got no further than his spokesman, who said that Lord Ashcroft is a private individual," Today interviewer John Humphrys said.
David Cameron and William Hague have also faced questions about whether the billionaire Tory peer pays UK taxes, in line with a promise he made when he was awarded his peerage in 2000.
Labour MPs have been raising an increasing number of questions about that promise. One, Gordon Prentice, has called a Commons debate on Monday about the role of the Information Commissioner in requesting the information. Mr Prentice wants the commissioner to order the Government to answer questions about Lord Ashcroft's tax status. ---more---
27 November 2009 (The Mirror): Tory backer Lord Ashcroft dubbed monster of the Caribbean
Billionaire Lord Ashcroft was described as "a monster of the Caribbean" in the Commons yesterday after the Mirror exposed his plans to buy the election for the Tories.
Labour MP Denis MacShane demanded an emergency debate over the "corrupt" influence of the Belize-based Tory deputy chairman - who is running a propaganda campaign funded by himself and other wealthy backers.
Mr MacShane said our revelations yesterday proved the need for "an early debate on that monster from the Caribbean deep, namely Lord Ashcroft, and his influence on politics".
...
What taxes does his company Bearwood Corporate Services pay?
Bearwood is being investigated by the Electoral Commission over allegations it is a Tory funding front not a trading company.
Labour MPs fear the results will come too late to stop Ashcroft influencing the election result by bombarding voters in marginals with pro-Tory leaflets, magazines and newsletters that are provided using cash funnelled through party accounts. ---more---
26 November 2009 (The Mirror): How David Cameron is trying to buy the general election
David Cameron's attempts to buy the next election with millions of pounds from secretive wealthy backers are today exposed by the Mirror.
An investigation found the Conservative leader is using the cash to carpet-bomb voters with expensive propaganda.
A study of key seats revealed they are being bombarded with leaflets, magazines, newsletters and surveys promoting Tory candidates paid for out of central party funds.
Billionaire Michael Ashcroft, who founded a business empire from Belize, is running the operation in dozens of constituencies.
By law, political parties can only take money from people registered to vote in Britain or companies trading here.
Although senior Conservatives say they believe Lord Ashcroft now lives and pays tax in the UK, both he and they refuse to confirm that...
...CASH FOR CANDIDATES
Pendle - LABOUR MAJORITY: 2,180
Labour MP Gordon Prentice is defending a 2,180 majority. The Tories spent £82,000 campaigning last year, up from less than £25,000 in 2006.
More than £35,000 has come from the party HQ. It pays for "Pendle Matters" - a glossy newsletter delivered to most homes every two months. It is filled with pictures of Tory candidate Andrew Stephenson.
The newsletter comes on top of regular "In Touch" and "Change" leaflets and a handbagsized Hello-style magazine "Talk" distributed in many Tory seats. Voters have also received glossy Christmas cards and surveys on crime, health and post office closures, with stamped reply envelopes, which are hugely expensive.
Donations to the local Conservative Association help cover the cost.
Pendle Tories saw gifts double to £15,893 last year.
That included £3,000 from the United & Cecil Club, which gave another £1,500 in January. ---more---
15 November 2009 (The Observer): Electoral watchdog under fire as Lord Ashcroft inquiry threatens to run into election
Labour MPs are demanding to know why the Electoral Commission's inquiry into Lord Ashcroft's donations to the Conservative party has dragged on for 10 months
Controversy over Lord Ashcroft's donations to the Conservative party deepened last night after Labour MPs demanded an urgent meeting with Britain's elections watchdog.
Placing more pressure on the Tories, Labour MPs want to know why the Electoral Commission's official inquiry into an Ashcroft-controlled company, which has given £3m to the party, has dragged on for 10 months and threatens to run into the general election campaign.
...
"The Electoral Commission needs to crack on with its investigation into the status of Ashcroft's companies to satisfy itself that all donations are not only legitimate, but transparent as well," he said.
"The danger is that the mismatch in resources is tantamount to the Tories trying to buy seats. For democracy's sake, I hope the electorate sees through this." ---more---
04 November 2009 (The Mirror): Give us plane truth on Tory billionaire’s taxes
Billionaire Tory paymaster Michael Ashcroft’s treating voters like mugs by playing dumb.
The tycoon who made a fortune in the Central American state of Belize is arguably the second most important figure in the Tory machine after David Cameron.
An official title of Deputy Chairman plays down the considerable influence of the mastermind of the campaign to win seats vital to a Conservative victory.
He’s investing millions in the party, the travel agent who flies Cameron and other frontbenchers around the world in private jets. A prominent foreign policy role’s predicted if the Cons win after he held William Hague’s hand on a recent jaunt to Washington.
Yet we don’t know, and Ashcroft and Cameron won’t say, whether he pays tax in Britain. No taxation without representation was the rallying cry of the American colonists who overthrew Britain in the 18th century.
In 21st-century Britain we may be about to experience representation without taxation. We don’t even know if Ashcroft – ennobled as Lord Ashcroft of Chichester nine years ago by a grateful Hague – is registered to vote in local and European elections. Ashcroft won’t tell us.
Today there’ll be much shouting and bawling when we re-visit the crime scene that is Westminster expenses with publication of Sir Christopher Kelly’s clean-up plan.
Yet Ashcroft’s self-imposed gag is the greater mockery of our enfeebled democracy. ---more---
01 November 2009 (The Observer): Billionaire donor Lord Ashcroft tipped for top Tory foreign job
Billionaire Tory donor Lord Ashcroft was embroiled in fresh controversy last night after it emerged that he accompanied the shadow foreign secretary to key meetings overseas, amid rumours that he will be given a top foreign policy role in a future Conservative government.
The Observer can reveal that the peer, who pumps millions of pounds into marginal seats but refuses to say whether he pays tax in Britain, is flying William Hague around the world and went with him on his recent trip to the US, during which Hague met Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and other key US figures. ---more---
27 September 2009 (The Independent): Meet the new media mogul: why Tories fear Lord Ashcroft
...But when Andrew Rawnsley quit Politics Home last week, it was the latest sign of unease at the growing influence of the Conservative Party's deputy chairman. Lord Ashcroft is now marching ahead with plans to build his own media empire...
Lord Ashcroft's investment in new media is causing palpable unease to the Conservative leadership. Ashcroft has so far avoided declaring his tax status but he is believed to be a non-domiciled resident of Belize. After pressure from Labour backbenchers, a late clause was added to the Political Parties and Elections Act this summer, meaning Ashcroft will now have to clarify his tax status, for which he has been set a deadline of January.
Ashcroft is one of the Conservative Party's most generous donors, but his unresolved tax status continues to be an embarrassment. Yet his acquisition of influential political websites makes him useful to the party. "If the Tories had been hoping to sideline Ashcroft, they certainly can't afford to now," says one party insider. ---more---
27 September 2009 (The Guardian): The bankroller who is blighting British political life
Michael Ashcroft's wealth gives him huge influence in political life… and the power to crush debate
...
At least Belize can pride itself on having leaders who will fight back. The best the British have managed to date is a small revolt led by my colleague, the notorious firebrand, Andrew Rawnsley. Along with about 20 other leftish commentators last week, I followed his example and decided to stop co-operating with the previously interesting website PoliticsHome (sic). It had provided balanced coverage by giving readers' views from across the political spectrum. We reasoned that after the deputy chairman of the Conservative party announced that he had bought a controlling interest, the independence of the site may be dented, however slightly.
Labour figures guessed that Ashcroft was as interested in the huge polls in marginal constituencies the site collected. Their detailed results would be of use to Tory strategists, Labour speculated, particularly if they did not have to declare the costs of commissioning them as an election expense.
At the same time as Ashcroft was buying into PoliticsHome, he bought ConservativeHome, not because he is a collector of sites named by illiterate web designers, but because it is the foremost discussion board for Tory party activists.
The Conservative rank and file proved their traditional subservience to their betters still survived and did not protest about the potential threat to the independence of a meeting place where they could be critical of Cameron. The leftists were more forthright, but I doubt if their complaints will make a difference. Ashcroft understands that our world has more in common with the oligarchic age of empire than 20th-century mass democracy and his insight gives him the edge over anyone who takes him on.
Many honourable Conservatives, for instance, deplore David Cameron's weak refusal to insist that a party official, who was granted a peerage on the understanding he pay taxes, publicly declares that he is also domiciled in Britain for tax purposes. His failure to confront Ashcroft proves that the prime minster of Belize has more backbone than the man who would be prime minister of Britain. Until Ashcroft says differently, we must assume that he expects working- and middle-class taxpayers to pick up his bills. ---more---
29 August 2009 (The Independent): MPs demand fresh scrutiny of Lord Ashcroft
The tax status of the Tory donor Lord Ashcroft came under renewed scrutiny last night as MPs demanded the publication of secret details of his promise to live permanently in the UK.
Britain's information watchdog was criticised for delays in deciding whether to force through the release of details about the assurances, given by Lord Ashcroft to the Government after his elevation to the peerage in 2000. He is said to spend some of his time in Belize, where he has many business interests.
Gordon Prentice, a Labour MP, has demanded answers from the Information Commissioner after the head of the civil service, Sir Gus O'Donnell, refused to release the details. Lord Ashcroft has donated millions of pounds to the Tories. He has always refused to say whether he is resident or pays taxes in the UK, claiming it is a private matter. ---more---
28 August 2009 (The Independent): Paradise in Belize turns sour for Ashcroft
Michael Ashcroft, the Tory peer and donor who is masterminding a key part of David Cameron's election strategy, has been denounced in his adopted homeland of Belize for using his money to "subjugate an entire nation". ...
... The attack on Lord Ashcroft by Belize's Prime Minister echoed the feelings of Labour MPs struggling to hold on to marginal seats against candidates generously bankrolled by the billionaire Tory.
The Labour MP Gordon Prentice, who has campaigned to have Lord Ashcroft banned from making political donations in the UK until his tax status is cleared up, said yesterday evening: "I'm delighted that the change of government is bringing a wind of change to Belize. I just hope David Cameron is listening to what the Belize Prime Minister is saying." ---more---
28 August 2009 (The Guardian): Lord Ashcroft 'subjugated a nation', claims Belize prime minister
The Conservative deputy chairman, Lord Ashcroft, tonight denied a charge from the prime minister of Belize that he had "subjugated an entire nation" through his extensive business interests in the former British colony. ---more---
23 June 2009 (The Mirror): Slippery cameron
Another press conference from the Tory leader and another chance to ask him about Lord Ashcroft. He's the Conservative peer and billionaire donor who is refusing to say whether or not he's resident in this country for tax purposes.
Which is rather embarrassing for Cameron who rattled on at length today about the importance of transparency in politics.
For some reason this new-found openness does not extend to the House of Lords. The Mirror, which like Cameron believes our politicians should be 'open and accountable', asked Mr Cameron if Lord Ashcroft is a UK taxpayer.
Surprisingly, he refused to answer. Until he does, the public will rightly conclude that anything he says on cleaning up politics is complete codswallop. ---more---
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