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Political Parties and Elections Bill

One problem for me in this whole business has been the fact that I have spent the past eight years in this House steering very clear of political argument. That may seem strange because when I was in the Commons I was probably a bit of a beast on the Back Benches. But here I have been very careful to avoid getting into party-political point-scoring in debates on the Floor of the House or even in Committee. One of my difficulties with this Bill is that we are just led into that kind of political argument. In the context of what has happened, it is very hard to avoid getting into a party-political debate, and I apologise to the Committee. As I said, I have spent eight years avoiding it in every contribution that I have made. I want to produce a letter that was sent out by the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association because in many ways it represents the debate that we are having now. I wonder whether it fits into the legislation and whether this kind of material should be subject to some kind of control. In constituencies throughout the country, we see letters from David Cameron that have been sent out nationally and which somehow seem to get round all kinds of constraints, whether it is before or during campaigns. This letter was sent to my mother who lives in Whitehall Court, which noble Lords will know is just opposite Downing Street. The letter is headed, "Conservative Fighting Fund Appeal". It states: ""Dear Mrs Campbell-Savours,""No one can tell when the call to battle for the Conservative Party will come, to respond to the dreadful state into which Gordon Brown has led our country—and without a word of apology for his own part in causing the disaster through his chosen economic and financial policies.""The Conservative Party will need money to meet whatever further contingencies and challenges arise, and this letter is to appeal to you to put your hand in your pocket now"—" we all know what is coming as many of us have probably sent them out—and the letter is signed by the noble Lord, Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, who is here today. He might not know that it has gone out. My argument is not with him but about whether this kind of material should be sent out. It includes a request to send your money to: ""The Rt. Hon. the Lord Brooke … London SW1"—" and is followed by the words: ""I/We have pleasure in enclosing … my/our contribution to the Conservative Fighting Fund"." A postal vote application is also enclosed with the letter. The document was sent last week in the middle of a campaign for the European elections. Nothing indicates that it would fall under any of the constraints that we have discussed today. I am pretty sure that it has not. If there is confusion in the Conservative Party about whether it is within campaign territory, it applies equally in the Labour Party. A colleague sought information somewhere in the United Kingdom of a regional office and got a number of different interpretations as to what the law is. It does not apply only to the Conservatives; it probably applies to a number of political parties. If the noble Lord, Lord Rennard, is in control of the Liberal Democrats, he is probably keeping tight control over how these things do in the light of the Michael Brown affair. It is difficult to understand how that material can go out at this stage. I did not read the whole letter but it is basically an election leaflet. It is asking people for money and encloses a postal vote application form. Within a matter of weeks we will be going to the polls in London. Somewhere along the line it should be included in election expenditure, but it does not because it does not refer to a candidate. That is how it gets out of it. If we were to slip the name of the candidate into the letter, I do not think that it would make much difference. The reality is that it is an election document. I ask my noble friend to forgive me. I have tried diligently not to be political over all my years in this House. This is wrong and it should be sorted out. If the amendments of the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, deal with this kind of problem, let us look at them before Report and not write them off as we have done with many of the amendments in our deliberations on this Bill.