Conservative Party Donations And Business Age Allegations

EDM number 2245 in 1992-93, proposed by Peter Hain on 01/07/1993.

That this House notes with alarm fresh allegations made by Business Age that at least ú71 million worth of undeclared donations have been made to the Tory Party over the last eight years and that these sums are tabled in rank order indicating favours bought and influence gained; further notes the degree of involvement by 'Conservatives Abroad', many of whom are based in tax havens and have contributed an estimated ú30 million in order to preserve tax breaks unique to the United Kingdom which have cost the country up to ú49 billion in revenue over the last 14 years; further notes that Business Age believes that persons such as Mohammed Al Fayed, Michael Ashcroft, Wafic Said and Gerald Ronson have used such donations to gain influence with government departments such as the DTI; and calls on the Prime Minister to instigate an immediate independent inquiry and instruct the Chairman of the Conservative party to open all Party accounts to public scrutiny, so that British votes will at last understand that 'The best government that money can buy' leads to the sleaze and corruption evidenced by these findings.

This motion has been signed by a total of 51 MPs.