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Opposition day on Tuesday, 4 December 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Maude of Horsham. The answering member was Jack Straw.

Political Parties (Funding)

Funding of political parties. Third Opposition Day debate (part 1). Main question negatived on division (160 to 341). Amendment agreed to on division (300 to 198).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
468 c698-752 
Session
2007-08
Department
Ministry of Justice
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 468 c728 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sure that the House is aware of the fact that the 10-minute rule on Back-Bench speeches ...
Martin Salter | 468 c712-3 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is rightly considering further legislation, but when he brought in the Politica...
Show all contributions (233)
Jack Straw | 468 c713 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is entirely right. There was widespread concern, and Conservative Members have extrem...
Lord Vaizey of Didcot | 468 c713 (Link to this contribution) On Sunday, Labour Ministers said that the money from David Abrahams had been paid back. The Secretar...
Jack Straw | 468 c713 (Link to this contribution) I was answering a specific question about two donors whose tax status had never been an issue. It is...
Jack Straw | 468 c711 (Link to this contribution) Neill looked very carefully at the question of overall spending limits and said that the majority of...
Speaker | 468 c712 (Link to this contribution) Order. The Secretary of State is not giving way. I ask again for calm.
Graham Stuart | 468 c712 (Link to this contribution) Does the Secretary of State accept that it is ludicrous for an inquiry is to report to someone—the L...
Jack Straw | 468 c712 (Link to this contribution) Neill said that the majority of his Committee had concluded, at paragraph 10.31 that"““the impositio...
Helen Jones | 468 c715 (Link to this contribution) On the question of different political parties having different structures, will my right hon. Frien...
Shailesh Vara | 468 c714 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Jack Straw | 468 c713-4 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful to the right hon. and learned Gentleman for what he has just said. He said t...
Lord Clarke of Nottingham | 468 c713 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is going through the Hayden Phillips recommendations and it must be obvious...
Lord Clarke of Nottingham | 468 c714 (Link to this contribution) I do not mind the right hon. Gentleman dilating on this matter because I am a general supporter of t...
Jack Straw | 468 c714 (Link to this contribution) No, no. I want the right hon. Member for Horsham to intervene. Let me say to the right hon. Gentlem...
Jack Straw | 468 c716 (Link to this contribution) What I would say directly to the hon. Gentleman, who is so keen on devolution, is that my writ does ...
Pete Wishart | 468 c716 (Link to this contribution) On donations, can the right hon. Gentleman help me? Is it fair and credible to claim ignorance of th...
Geraldine Smith | 468 c716 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that outside the House, this debate is seen as bit like the pot call...
Speaker | 468 c715 (Link to this contribution) Order. Regardless of the office that any right hon. or hon. Member holds, we must be careful when we...
Jack Straw | 468 c715 (Link to this contribution) The system is completely transparent—that is how the hon. Gentleman knows, as I have said. It is a g...
Dawn Butler | 468 c715 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire (Mr. Vara) talks about contributions from trade unions...
Jack Straw | 468 c716 (Link to this contribution) I look forward to that. On the issue of the lack of symmetry in the constitution of different polit...
Shailesh Vara | 468 c715 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way. Given that £127,000 has been given by trade ...
Jack Straw | 468 c715 (Link to this contribution) I do not know why the hon. Gentleman is busting a gasket saying that. The system is transparent—that...
Shailesh Vara | 468 c715 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State seems to have missed the point. He does not seem to appreciate that the phras...
Jack Straw | 468 c717-8 (Link to this contribution) The Neill committee noted that the arguments for and against state funding were ““finely balanced””....
Jack Straw | 468 c717 (Link to this contribution) I should be perfectly happy for people to see it, but as the hon. Gentleman knows very well, the rea...
Jack Straw | 468 c717 (Link to this contribution) Given that and all the unanswered questions raised by Rachel Sylvester, I am not surprised that the ...
Lord Tyrie | 468 c717 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State has referred to various Hayden Phillips proposals. In fact, he has elided a n...
Jack Straw | 468 c717 (Link to this contribution) We accept that there are some defects in the system, and we have made that clear. That is why we wer...
Dari Taylor | 468 c717 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend may be interested to know—I am sure the House will—that Lord Ashcroft says on h...
Jack Straw | 468 c716 (Link to this contribution) I think that there is probably widespread agreement with my hon. Friend on that matter. I am quite c...
Jonathan Djanogly | 468 c717 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Gentleman explain why more union members are affiliated than actually pay the pol...
David Heath | 468 c720-1 (Link to this contribution) The investigation will be a matter for the Durham police. If they feel that there are matters to be ...
Jack Straw | 468 c718 (Link to this contribution) We came very close to a consensus before, and I believe that with good will and with the assistance ...
David Heath | 468 c718-9 (Link to this contribution) I suspect that any member of the public watching the debate and entertaining the perverse hope that ...
Lord Spellar | 468 c719 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman can help that process by telling us on behalf of his party when it will give back...
David Heath | 468 c719 (Link to this contribution) I expected that intervention at some stage, so I thought I might as well give way to the right hon. ...
David Heath | 468 c719 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right: it was boringly predictable. There has never been any question a...
Lord Spellar | 468 c719 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Heath | 468 c719-20 (Link to this contribution) No; the right hon. Gentleman had his chance and he blew it. The concern is not only that the Govern...
David Clelland | 468 c720 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Chris Huhne) has recently been pursu...
Gordon Prentice | 468 c722 (Link to this contribution) On the point about rich individuals bankrolling political parties, is it not scandalous that the Con...
David Heath | 468 c721 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford).
David Heath | 468 c722 (Link to this contribution) So it is all right, then, to invest in the murderers in Darfur—[Interruption.] It is politics, someo...
Lord Spellar | 468 c722 (Link to this contribution) Did you ask Michael Brown that question?
David Heath | 468 c722 (Link to this contribution) It is scandalous. It is also scandalous that any member of the legislature—of either House of Parlia...
Graham Stuart | 468 c722 (Link to this contribution) Fidelity is an investment company.
Clive Efford | 468 c704 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c703-4 (Link to this contribution) We know that things are getting really difficult for the Labour party when the House's ancient histo...
Clive Efford | 468 c704 (Link to this contribution) I am impressed with the right hon. Gentleman's assiduous attention to detail in naming donors. Will ...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c704 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way, and then I want to move on to the case for reform.
Clive Efford | 468 c704 (Link to this contribution) Can the right hon. Member for Horsham (Mr. Maude) explain why there is such an intricate web of fina...
Dennis Skinner | 468 c702 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Dennis Skinner | 468 c703 (Link to this contribution) On knowing or not knowing, with hindsight can the right hon. Gentleman tell me why the Tory party di...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c702-3 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a short while, but I want to finish this passage in my speech. Peter Watt, the L...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c702 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. The simple fact is that Jon Mendelsohn and Peter Watt must...
Lord Redwood | 468 c702 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. Does he agree that a governing party in these circumstances s...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c702 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman will have to go back to the drawing board, as we disclosed all t...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c702 (Link to this contribution) The problem goes further than that—
Speaker | 468 c702 (Link to this contribution) Order. I do not know what the right hon. Member for Horsham (Mr. Maude) intends to do about giving w...
Sion Simon | 468 c702 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way on that point?
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c702 (Link to this contribution) According to Mr. Mendelsohn's own account, he knew from September that the donations were illegal. S...
Stephen Pound | 468 c702 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. To be described as ““rough trade”” is rath...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c701 (Link to this contribution) I do not want the hon. Member for Ealing, North (Stephen Pound) to feel left out, so I shall give wa...
Lord Redwood | 468 c709 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State say why the Prime Minister's campaign tore up the cheque from Mrs. Kidd,...
Jack Straw | 468 c708 (Link to this contribution) I suspect that they have something to do with the Conservative party.
Jack Straw | 468 c709 (Link to this contribution) I will in a moment, but let me first make some progress. We had committed to introducing legislatio...
Lord Vaizey of Didcot | 468 c709 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Andrew MacKay | 468 c708 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I can ask a question that the Secretary of State can answer. He piloted through the 1999 leg...
Jack Straw | 468 c708 (Link to this contribution) I cannot answer that question; I do not know is the answer.
Chris Ruane | 468 c708 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend know what the following have in common: Tanbridge, the East Surrey Busines...
Jack Straw | 468 c708 (Link to this contribution) We have made it very clear that the donation will be sent back, and the law is very clear. May I jus...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 468 c708 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. Last week, when the Prime Minister said that unlawful act...
Jack Straw | 468 c707-8 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, To leave out from ““House”” to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:"“...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c706-7 (Link to this contribution) No, I am drawing my remarks to a close. In his speech at the weekend, the Prime Minister claimed, n...
Anne Snelgrove | 468 c706 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c706 (Link to this contribution) I am drawing my remarks to a close. Nothing that the Prime Minister said last weekend changed that ...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c705-6 (Link to this contribution) I want to finish this passage, if the hon. Lady will forgive me. A small minority of union members ...
Anne Snelgrove | 468 c705 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c705 (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. The key to this is trade union affiliation fees. I want to set this ou...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c704 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is struggling a bit, as I think the House can appreciate. All those arrangements ...
Gerald Kaufman | 468 c710 (Link to this contribution) Consequent to the intervention of my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Mr. Simon), m...
Jack Straw | 468 c710 (Link to this contribution) As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Mr. Simon), we noted that the answ...
Jim Sheridan | 468 c710 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend assure the House that any reforms that he introduces ensure that no rich b...
Jack Straw | 468 c710 (Link to this contribution) Yes is the answer to the question.
Jack Straw | 468 c711 (Link to this contribution) Of course, I will give way, but I want to make some progress first. Sir Hayden published an interim...
Stephen Pound | 468 c711 (Link to this contribution) On the subject of the complicated mechanism that my right hon. Friend mentions, I am sure that the r...
Jack Straw | 468 c711 (Link to this contribution) The simple truth on unincorporated associations such as the Midlands Industrial Council is that they...
Stephen O'Brien | 468 c711 (Link to this contribution) To help the House in relation to what the right hon. Gentleman has just said, could he confirm the t...
Jack Straw | 468 c711 (Link to this contribution) An individual's tax status is a matter for them and for the Inland Revenue and the Electoral Commiss...
Jack Straw | 468 c709 (Link to this contribution) I shall be happy to tell the Electoral Commission and the police should they ask that. We will wait ...
Lord Spellar | 468 c709 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. ...On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Is it in order for Conservat...
Speaker | 468 c709 (Link to this contribution) I hope that it is a point of order. ...It is up to Members what declarations they make.
Sion Simon | 468 c710 (Link to this contribution) It is gracious of my right hon. Friend to give way. On innocent mistakes, Lord Ashcroft promised in ...
Jack Straw | 468 c710 (Link to this contribution) That is not a question that I can answer, but I noticed that, when the right hon. Member for Horsham...
Simon Burns | 468 c709 (Link to this contribution) Do the Lord Chancellor and the Government anticipate making acting in good faith a reasonable defenc...
David Winnick | 468 c734 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way. What are required—we will not get them today, but hopefully over time—are ...
David Ruffley | 468 c734-5 (Link to this contribution) The Prime Minister promised competence, but what he has given us is the first run on a British bank ...
David Winnick | 468 c733 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will get his brownie points for making such party points. He has got it off his c...
Lord Swire | 468 c733 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is a veteran parliamentarian and he is suggesting that 1997—year zero—was the fir...
David Winnick | 468 c733 (Link to this contribution) I think we can all work on the safe assumption that Mr. Abrahams will not be getting a peerage of an...
Dawn Butler | 468 c733 (Link to this contribution) Can my hon. Friend tell the House whether Mr. Abrahams has been given any peerages for his donations...
David Winnick | 468 c733-4 (Link to this contribution) I am not suggesting anything of the kind. The Scottish national party is not in a state to give us l...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 468 c733 (Link to this contribution) I have been listening to the hon. Gentleman's long list. Is he telling the House that the Labour par...
Ian Lucas | 468 c737 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Is it in order for one hon. Member to attack the conduct of...
Speaker | 468 c737 (Link to this contribution) Order. Not for the first time, the hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas) has pursued an attempted inte...
Adam Price | 468 c737 (Link to this contribution) This is not a Westminster village story alone. A Jersey businessman has given a donation to the Scot...
Speaker | 468 c735 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Ruffley) is addressing the House. He is relating his remar...
Stephen Pound | 468 c735 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Can you guide the House on the appropriateness or otherwise...
David Ruffley | 468 c735 (Link to this contribution) Time is short. I shall make some progress. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has belated...
Adam Price | 468 c737 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but there is no time—[Interruption.]
Ian Lucas | 468 c737 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Adam Price | 468 c736 (Link to this contribution) It was the Secretary of State for Health who said that this had been a lousy week for the Labour par...
David Ruffley | 468 c735-6 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The heat has been taken off the right hon. Member for Neath...
Lord Tyrie | 468 c729 (Link to this contribution) Are you happy with ““misled the people of this country””?
Speaker | 468 c730 (Link to this contribution) Certainly not. I would be very grateful if the hon. Gentleman would choose a phrase that is suitable...
Lord Tyrie | 468 c729 (Link to this contribution) The answer to the question from the hon. Member for Manchester, Central (Tony Lloyd) is that we cert...
Lord Tyrie | 468 c729 (Link to this contribution) The Labour party received £36,000 from Enron. The Secretary of State seems to have forgotten about t...
Speaker | 468 c729 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am not happy with ““distorted the truth””. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to use a d...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c728 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman accept that the amount of money that Lord Ashcroft gives through his compani...
Tony Lloyd | 468 c727-8 (Link to this contribution) I will not, if the hon. Gentleman will forgive me. In this country, we have a democratic trade unio...
Tony Lloyd | 468 c728 (Link to this contribution) I would accept an awful lot more from the right hon. Gentleman if he would get Lord Ashcroft to come...
David Winnick | 468 c732-3 (Link to this contribution) We have been asked to shorten our contributions. It will not come as a surprise to anyone in the Hou...
Ian Lucas | 468 c731 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Tyrie | 468 c731-2 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I will not; I have already given way a number of times, and I...
Lord Tyrie | 468 c730-1 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that the paper produced showed decisively that in real terms the...
Lord Tyrie | 468 c730 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman knows very well that it is up to each party to decide how to allocate spend...
Jack Straw | 468 c730 (Link to this contribution) May I say to the hon. Gentleman, in rather more temperate language, that what he is claiming is simp...
Lord Tyrie | 468 c730 (Link to this contribution) I think that we can say that those listening to the Prime Minister might have found it difficult to ...
Speaker | 468 c730 (Link to this contribution) Order. My concern is the words that are used in this debate.
Lord Tyrie | 468 c730 (Link to this contribution) I used that phrase only because it happens to be the one that the Prime Minister used, and that was ...
Bridget Prentice | 468 c744 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I hope that the official Opposition will reflect on the views that w...
Jonathan Djanogly | 468 c739 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I have given my reasons for not giving way. Since Labour came to pow...
Speaker | 468 c739 (Link to this contribution) Order. Perhaps we could conclude the debate in a slightly more civilised manner. The hon. Gentleman ...
Jonathan Djanogly | 468 c739 (Link to this contribution) I gave up a third of my time so that other hon. Members could speak, so I shall not give way. The c...
Sion Simon | 468 c739 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Jonathan Djanogly | 468 c739 (Link to this contribution) What might the funding have delivered for the unions? Since Labour came to power—
Speaker | 468 c737 (Link to this contribution) I shall deal with the hon. Gentleman's point of order as I dealt with the earlier one. I am in charg...
Adam Price | 468 c737-8 (Link to this contribution) I say to the hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas) that simply saying, ““They are as bad as us,”” is n...
Jonathan Djanogly | 468 c738-9 (Link to this contribution) The Labour party funding scandals appear to be rolling out on an almost daily basis, with varying de...
Stephen Pound | 468 c739 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Speaker | 468 c743 (Link to this contribution) Order. We must not have these private conversations while the Minister is addressing the House.
Sion Simon | 468 c743 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Djanogly) was so pious about party funding by the state, but wil...
Lord Tyrie | 468 c742-3 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady acknowledge that Hayden Phillips produced a comprehensive paper showing conclusiv...
Bridget Prentice | 468 c743 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I have to say to the hon. Gentleman, whose constituency association receives fundin...
Angus Robertson | 468 c742 (Link to this contribution) Why did the Hayden Phillips talks include only the three UK parties in the discussions on a formal a...
Bridget Prentice | 468 c742 (Link to this contribution) I realise that the hon. Gentleman has come into the debate only in the past couple of minutes, but h...
Jonathan Djanogly | 468 c740-1 (Link to this contribution) When we talk about modernising unions, the reaction in previous debates has been that the Conservati...
Bridget Prentice | 468 c741-2 (Link to this contribution) I should have liked to thank all hon. Members for a positive, thought-provoking and inspiring debate...
Speaker | 468 c740 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I say to hon. Gentlemen and hon. Ladies that constant interventions from a sedentary posi...
Lord Swire | 468 c726 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Liberal Democrat spokesman might have sounded a little less s...
Tony Lloyd | 468 c726 (Link to this contribution) Yes. Of course, we are sorry. There is a degree of synthetic anger among Opposition Members, but the...
Dawn Butler | 468 c727 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend think that the spirit of the law allows political parties to accept money from s...
Tony Lloyd | 468 c726 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point. In fact, the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome said ...
Tony Lloyd | 468 c726 (Link to this contribution) As chair of the parliamentary Labour party, let me begin by saying—
Tony Lloyd | 468 c727 (Link to this contribution) We have to look at the whole question of what the spirit of the law is. The Labour party is entirely...
Tony Lloyd | 468 c727 (Link to this contribution) I will not, if my hon. Friend will forgive me. If we are talking about openness and transparency, I...
Speaker | 468 c725 (Link to this contribution) Order. It is very apparent that at the moment the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath) is ...
David Heath | 468 c724 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman tries me. I have given way to Members on both sides of the Chamber throughout my ...
David Heath | 468 c725 (Link to this contribution) There is scope for all sorts of legislation. In the last Session, I introduced a Bill on corruption ...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 468 c725 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has made a raft of suggestions. Does he think we need an anti-corruption Bill wit...
David Heath | 468 c725 (Link to this contribution) I give way because the hon. Gentleman is from a minority party.
David Heath | 468 c725 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker. We must have proposals that we all agree will take us away fro...
Lord Swire | 468 c724 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Heath | 468 c724 (Link to this contribution) Such abuses would no longer be possible, because the system would be even more transparent than the ...
Graham Stuart | 468 c724 (Link to this contribution) We wanted quality, not quantity.
David Heath | 468 c724 (Link to this contribution) No. I am not going to give way again, and I hope that saying so will save a lot of time. The right h...
Lord Swire | 468 c724 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Heath | 468 c724 (Link to this contribution) From a sedentary position, the hon. Gentleman tells me something that we knew from day one of the in...
David Heath | 468 c724 (Link to this contribution) No, I have just said I will not give way.
David Heath | 468 c723 (Link to this contribution) The Electoral Commission looked into the matter and said that the checks were all right, whereas it ...
Paul Farrelly | 468 c722-3 (Link to this contribution) The Prime Minister has made it clear that the Labour party has apologised for what happened with the...
David Heath | 468 c722 (Link to this contribution) If Michael Brown thought that he was going to get preferment from the Liberal Democrats, he was delu...
David Heath | 468 c723 (Link to this contribution) No, no. I am extraordinarily pleased that the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe stood up ...
Graham Stuart | 468 c723 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Clelland | 468 c723 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Heath | 468 c724 (Link to this contribution) That is where I do not understand what the right hon. Gentleman is saying. It is true that we found ...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c723-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, but what he suggests is simply not the case. We ...
David Heath | 468 c723 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman, from a sedentary position, invites me to talk about the unions, but we did so an...
Keith Simpson | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend should continue with his forensic analysis. It is obvious that the Labour party...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes the point clearly that when it comes to concerns about propriety only one party...
Stephen Pound | 468 c701 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c701 (Link to this contribution) It may be that the point that I am about to make is the one about which the hon. Gentleman is so exc...
Sion Simon | 468 c701 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c701 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that my hon. Friend meant that rough, but he has given great offence to the hon. Memb...
Baroness Browning | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend share my concern about the potential tax liability of people who have, kno...
Lord Redwood | 468 c701 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) Just in case the hon. Gentleman did not hear it, I said I can confirm that any donations made to the...
Ian Lucas | 468 c699 (Link to this contribution) Let me be clear that I am accusing the right hon. Gentleman's party of lawbreaking, because Lord Ash...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) I could scarcely have been more unequivocal than I was. If the right hon. Gentleman has evidence of ...
Gerald Kaufman | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Rachel Sylvester, a journalist for a Conservative newspaper, says that the p...
Speaker | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) Order. We are having a debate, but it is getting far too noisy in the Chamber, and that is unfair to...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) If further interventions from Labour Members are of the same quality, I would prefer not to waste th...
Ian Lucas | 468 c699 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. On the question of illegal donations ...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c699 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way in a moment. So uncomfortable was Mr. Mendelsohn that a mere two and a half months ...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c699 (Link to this contribution) We wish the former Bishop well as he endeavours to peel away the layers of onion skin to disclose wh...
Speaker | 468 c699 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is not going to give way.
Sion Simon | 468 c699 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c699 (Link to this contribution) Only one party is being accused of lawbreaking and only one party's leader has admitted that the law...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c699 (Link to this contribution) I can confirm unequivocally that any donations made by Lord Ashcroft or any companies associated wit...
Speaker | 468 c699 (Link to this contribution) Order. Let the right hon. Gentleman speak.
Speaker | 468 c698 (Link to this contribution) We now come to the debate on the Opposition motion on the funding of political parties. Mr. Speaker ...
Sion Simon | 468 c698 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c698 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, "That this House notes with concern the corrosion of public trust in democracy follow...
Sion Simon | 468 c698 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Speaker | 468 c698 (Link to this contribution) Order. It is very obvious that at this moment in time the right hon. Gentleman is not giving way.
Jack Straw | 468 c714-5 (Link to this contribution) No. Let me come to the issue of donation limits. Neill considered whether donation limits should be...
Jack Straw | 468 c730 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman deny that the limit that should have applied to both main parties was £40 mi...
Gerald Kaufman | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman will no doubt have seen the article in The Daily Telegraph today by Rachel ...
Jack Straw | 468 c712 (Link to this contribution) No. The Labour party inquiry will report to the national executive committee.
Speaker | 468 c708 (Link to this contribution) Order. That is enough for the Secretary of State to be getting on with.
Jack Straw | 468 c709-10 (Link to this contribution) I notice that the Conservative party has adopted a holier-than-thou approach on this issue. Its Memb...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c698 (Link to this contribution) I would like to finish my first few sentences before giving way, if the hon. Gentleman will permit m...
Lord Maude of Horsham | 468 c698-9 (Link to this contribution) The fact that one party admits having broken the law is no reason to change the law. The events to w...
Jack Straw | 468 c714 (Link to this contribution) I said that I would come to that and I will. But I will also say to the right hon. and learned Gentl...
David Heath | 468 c721-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises an interesting question, but I have not been so approached. Does he propos...
Clive Efford | 468 c721 (Link to this contribution) I have listened carefully to the hon. Gentleman's speech, but he really cannot get away with the ans...
Bridget Prentice | 468 c743 (Link to this contribution) Of course, it is not for me to answer for the official Opposition, but if my hon. Friend is referrin...
Sion Simon | 468 c700 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Ian Lucas | 468 c735 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Subjects
Disclosure of information Finance Donors Political parties Political levy Trade unions Labour Scottish Labour Party Abrahams, David Harman, Baroness Alexander of Cleveden, Baroness
Link
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