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Political Parties and Elections Bill

I am not entirely aware of the sums. Lord Ashcroft is the demon in the minds of Labour Members, who sit there nursing their marginal seats, knowing that the electorate is coming for them. It is that knowledge that drives them on. In their fevered imagination, they see Lord Ashcroft, like some great grey figure hanging over them, sentencing their seat to lose to the Conservatives. To help slay Labour Members' demons, I should say that Lord Ashcroft's donations are far less than those of Lord Sainsbury. We hear about corruption from the Labour party, but a man who was serving as a Minister in the Government gave millions of pounds to them. What about the conflict of interest there? Did we hear the hon. Member for Pendle on his feet day after day campaigning with the hon. Member for Battersea against that conjunction? No, we did not. Lord Ashcroft's donations are on the public record. They are easy to find, a fraction of what Lord Sainsbury has given to the Labour party and, when broken down by constituencies, amount to a number of tens of thousands of pounds that have simply allowed for the employment of part-time staff and for communication with the electorate—upon which so much of our politics depends. Do I feel embarrassed or am I squirming about that? Quite the contrary: I am delighted that Lord Ashcroft, somebody of such public spiritedness who set up Crimestoppers and has been such a great philanthropist, also recognises the damage that this Government have done to this country. That is why I am so proud to have him as one of our many supporters. We, the Conservative party, are reliant on Lord Ashcroft for a tiny fraction of our income when compared with the income of the Labour party, the massive majority of which comes from the trade unions.