{"id":127170,"date":"2014-07-01T18:37:54","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T18:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=127170"},"modified":"2014-07-01T18:40:56","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T18:40:56","slug":"access-ministers-billionaires-lobbyists-lavish-party-david-cameron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/access-ministers-billionaires-lobbyists-lavish-party-david-cameron\/","title":{"rendered":"Access all ministers: billionaires and lobbyists at lavish party with David Cameron"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Nick Mathiason, Melanie Newman and Tom Warren<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Today, the Bureau can reveal\u00a0the billionaires, lobbyists and foreign interests who attended one of the most important private\u00a0Conservative party fundraising events.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">We\u00a0have\u00a0obtained a series of internal Conservative party documents including a seating plan for its Summer Party last year. They reveal that supporters with a combined wealth in excess of \u00a311bn paid up to \u00a312,000 a\u00a0table to dine with cabinet ministers including the prime minister, home secretary and defence secretary as well as the secretaries of state for health, transport, culture and justice.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">As supporters prepare to gather for\u00a0this year\u2019s event, which will take place on Wednesday\u00a0at the Hurlingham Club, west London, the Bureau can reveal that at last year\u2019s party\u00a0there were six\u00a0billionaires, 15 people with a personal wealth above \u00a3100m, 73 financiers and 47 retail and property tycoons among\u00a0the 449\u00a0guests who dined at the private event\u00a0held at Old Billingsgate Market.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Our investigation\u00a0shows:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">\n<li>Howard Shore, an investment banker whose firm invests\u00a0in shale gas and underground coal gasification, hosted\u00a0tables featuring\u00a0David and Samantha Cameron and the energy minister Michael Fallon.<\/li>\n<li>Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin was seated\u00a0with shipping and transport magnates.<\/li>\n<li>David Burnside, a lobbyist with a number of well-known Russian clients, hosted a table that\u00a0ncluded John Whittingdale MP, chair of the British-Ukraine All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).<\/li>\n<li>An adviser to the government of Bahrain was placed with both defence secretary Philip Hammond \u00a0and chair of the APPG on Bahrain group, Conor Burns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Ministerial disclosure rules do not extend to party fundraising events or conferences, so until now those attending the event has remained a secret. Press were banned from the event and helpers were \u2018absolutely forbidden\u2019 from leaking details to the media the internal documents show.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Although, there is no suggestion that any of the guests discussed policy or commercial issues with politicians, supporters, leading fundraisers and other guests were able to mingle with the prime minister and other senior government figures in a convivial environment.<\/p>\n<p>The proximity of senior cabinet members to powerful business leaders and lobbyists has alarmed transparency campaigners leading to renewed calls for reform around the issues of disclosure.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2018<\/b>There\u2019s a real problem with big money in British politics,\u2019 said Alexandra Runswick, Unlock Democracy director<strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u2018Whether it is party donors given seats in the House of Lords or people buying dinner with David Cameron, the public feels our politics is for sale \u2014 that politicians listen to donors and lobbyists but not voters.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Tamasin Cave, director of lobbying campaign group, Spinwatch, said: \u2018Buying a seat at a minister\u2019s table provides these bankers, foreign businessmen and lobbyists with an opportunity\u00a0to discuss their concerns, whether its taxes, regulation or policy. It\u2019s a straight up case of cash-for-access.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Labour has also been holding a series of business dinners. Last month a dinner hosted by shadow work and pension\u00a0minister, Chris Bryant in the Grand Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden, London, saw lobbyists and executives from security companies, private healthcare firms and the property industry mix with Harriet Harman, Labour\u2019s deputy leader, Chuka Umunna, shadow business secretary, and Emma Reynolds, shadow housing minister.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Labour\u2019s big ticket\u00a0fund-raising dinner and auction this year takes place\u00a0<a style=\"color: #a02b22;\" href=\"https:\/\/shop.labour.org.uk\/products\/election-gala-dinner-2014-384\/\">on July 9<\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #a02b22;\" href=\"https:\/\/shop.labour.org.uk\/products\/election-gala-dinner-2014-384\/\">\u00a0at The Roundhouse<\/a>\u00a0in Camden, London. The \u00a315,000 premier tables only includes a \u00a37,000 donation meaning that under current rules, tickets to the event\u00a0need not be disclosed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And earlier this week, Len McCluskey, leader of Unite, confirmed the UK\u2019s biggest union will heavily back Labour with cash in the forthcoming election campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The Conservative summer party, titled, \u201840 [seats] to gain 40 to hold\u2019, placed MPs in constituencies with slim majorities or prospective candidates on many tables.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shore Capital<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The event was sponsored by Shore Capital, an AIM-listed West End-based boutique investment bank run by Howard Shore. Shore and his company have donated \u00a3499,330 to the Conservatives since 2006.<\/p>\n<p>Shore and his wife, the chair of the organising committee for the event, hosted David and Samantha Cameron on their table. Shore Capital\u00a0also sponsored two further tables where energy minister Michael Fallon and home secretary Theresa May were seated. May shared a table with Lord De La Warr, non-executive director of Cluff Natural Resources which is exploring underground coal gasification in Warwickshire.<\/p>\n<p>Asked why Shore Capital sponsored the party, the company said in a statement: \u2018Shore Capital supported the event and made a financial contribution as they believe that the Conservative Party, led by the Prime Minister, are the best party to govern the country.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong>Russian connection<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Among the more surprising guests were a number of business men\u00a0linked to Russia. These included Alexander Temerko and Andrei Borodin, who were sitting\u00a0with London Mayor, Boris Johnson.<\/p>\n<p>Also present was Vladamir Putin\u2019s judo partner, Vasily Shestakov who was introduced to the Prime Minister. The Russian president\u2019s key aide had been tasked with improving Russia\u2019s reputation in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>There were also 19 lobbyists\u00a0and public relations\u00a0specialists at the party representing Gulf states, fracking firms, oligarchs and banking giants.<\/p>\n<p>Among these high profile PR specialists was\u00a0Lord Clanwilliam whose firm represents the government of Bahrain. He headed\u00a0one of the more prominent tables, hosting defence secretary\u00a0<a style=\"color: #a02b22;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thebureauinvestigates.com\/2012\/05\/16\/uk-bans-transfer-of-prisoners-to-afghan-forces-following-torture-fears\/\">Philip Hammond.<\/a>\u00a0Clanwilliam declined to comment on his attendance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Also attending was James Henderson, chief executive of public affairs firm Bell Pottinger which represents fracking company Cuadrilla. He hosted a table for friends, while his colleague Patsy Baker\u00a0joined a table with justice secretary Chris Grayling.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">\u2018We do not go there to lobby ministers in any form,\u2019 Henderson said. \u2018We go there to support the party. Apart from shaking a hand I don\u2019t believe I have ever spoken to a minister at any of these events.\u2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Henderson added that his colleague Baker\u00a0was at the party \u2018in a private capacity as the personal guest of her host. She didn\u2019t raise any issues on behalf of Bell Pottinger or her clients.\u2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">The finance sector formed the largest contingent at the event. In total, there were 73 hedge fund tycoons, private equity financiers and wealth managers. Among them were some of Mayfair and Belgravia\u2019s most powerful hedge fund names led by heavyweight party donors Sir Michael Hintze of CQS and Andrew Law of Caxton \u2013 both former executives at\u00a0Goldman Sachs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Premier tables at last year\u2019s party cost \u00a31,000 per guest. Standard tables were charged at \u00a3400 per guest.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">There is no precise way of knowing how much was raised from last year\u2019s event. Political donations are only disclosed above a \u00a37,500 threshold. But at fundraisers the value of the meal or prize is deducted. This means many donations may\u00a0fall below the threshold and so will\u00a0not be disclosed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">But in the week following the event, Electoral Commission data shows the Conservatives received \u00a31.1m. This is over three times the Conservatives\u2019 average weekly donor income.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Guests at the party and the companies they represent have donated a disclosed \u00a321.9m \u00a0to the Conservatives since Electoral Commission records began in 2001. This is\u00a010 per cent of the \u00a3219.7m of disclosed\u00a0donations to the party in the same period. (All donations above \u00a3500 have to be declared, and any above \u00a37,500 are disclosed on a register kept by the Electoral Commission.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Since the June 24 event, guests have donated a disclosed \u00a35m to the Conservatives.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">On one table was a representatives of the little-known Tory dining club, United and Cecil. Since 2008, its members have donated \u00a3909,095 to the party through the club, without being named.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">A spokesman for the Conservative Party said: \u2018All donations to the Conservative Party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with Electoral Commission rules.\u2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">Spinwatch\u2019s Tamasin Cave, said: \u2018Our government has promised to be \u2018the most transparent in the world\u2019, yet David Cameron won\u2019t even publish\u00a0the names of his guests at these events, which is just one of countless donor dinners.\u2019<\/p>\n<div id=\"custom\" class=\"stextbox\" style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\">\n<p><b>How we did it<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The table plan, auction catalogue and briefing notes for\u00a0last year\u2019s Conservative Summer Party were passed to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. The event is one of two major fundraising occasions held by the party.<\/p>\n<p>We researched\u00a0the 449 guests on the list to establish their jobs, industrial sectors and wealth. We also established the political donations they made both as individuals and also through the companies with which they are linked by using disclosures made on the Electoral Commission website.<\/p>\n<p>This allowed us to provide a breakdown of the donations that\u00a0have been made to the Conservative party by the summer party guests since the Electoral Commission started publishing data. Where we have identified a donor, the infographic included in our coverage\u00a0shows the value of individual donations and the combined total for individual and corporate donations.<\/p>\n<p>We used Companies House data to establish an individual\u2019s directorships. We then fed their\u00a0Companies House registration numbers into\u00a0the Electoral Commission database.<\/p>\n<p>If there was more than\u00a0one director from the same company\u00a0present at the Summer Party, we allocated donations to the individual with the most senior standing \u2014 for example, the chairman or chief executive \u2014 to avoid double counting.<\/p>\n<p>We also included donations which individuals or companies made to \u2018members associations\u2019 of the Conservative Party. These are organisations linked to the party and overseen by the Electoral Commission. An example of this is the \u2018Conservative Friends of India\u2019, which was established to build links between the party, British Indians and India itself.<\/p>\n<p>Some individuals in the room held senior positions in \u2018unincorporated associations\u2019. This includes dinner clubs such as the United &amp; Cecil Club, a prominent Conservative donor. Where a senior member of these groups attended, the donations of these groups were included in \u2018corporate donations\u2019 linked to them.<\/p>\n<p>It was not always possible to find information on the sectors in which people worked. In a small number of cases it was impossible to identify a named individual.<\/p>\n<p>To assess wealth, the Bureau used three established datasets of wealthy individuals: the Sunday Times Rich List, Forbes Russia and Slovenia Times. This means our \u00a311bn wealth figure is likely to be a low estimate of the wealth in the room.<\/p>\n<p>The Bureau only published the names of\u00a0attendees if there was a public interest in so\u00a0doing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\"><em>The Bureau\u2019s reporting team: Nick Mathiason, Melanie Newman, Tom Warren, Sid Ryan, Victoria Parsons, Lucinda Borrell and Gloria Schiavi.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3f3f3f;\"><em>The Guardian newspaper reported on the Bureau\u2019s findings in this investigation.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebureauinvestigates.com\/2014\/07\/01\/access-all-ministers-billionaires-and-lobbyists-at-lavish-party-with-david-cameron\/\" target=\"_blank\">This piece<\/a> was reprinted by <a href=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\" target=\"_blank\">RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nick Mathiason, Melanie Newman and Tom Warren Today, the Bureau can reveal\u00a0the billionaires, lobbyists and foreign interests who attended one of the most important private\u00a0Conservative party fundraising events. We\u00a0have\u00a0obtained a series of internal Conservative party documents including a seating plan for its Summer Party last year. They reveal that supporters with a combined wealth in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,52,18,1615],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-127170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news","7":"category-money","8":"category-latest-news","9":"category-uk-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127170\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}