The blue Baron: how the Tories rely on Ashcroft

[oldironside]

"Should David Cameron walk into Downing Street next year as prime minister, he will owe his sucess in significant measure to one man.

Baron Ashcroft of Chichester, deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, has not only masterminded the Tories' enormously successful strategy in the country's most marginal seats, he has largely paid for it all as well.

But as his party is on the verge of a return to government, the worry in Conservative circles is that their biggest supporter may also be their biggest liability as he await the results of an official inquiry into the eligibility of his donations."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-blue-baron-how-the-tories-rely-on-ashcroft-1812270.html

[Anarcho-Socialist]

1. He's living the Tory dream

He pays little (if any) tax.

[BolivarianHero]

2. I thought I had wandered into the Missouri forum by mistake...

An important right-winger named Ashcroft...

[TheBigotBasher]

3. Ashcroft is not the demon Labour paint him to be.

Any more than the billionaire set that gave millions to the New Labour project. And the Lib Dems can F Off attempting to be cleaner than clean as well.

How about non-domiciled donors like Lakshmi Mittal, Ronnie Cohen and Swaraj Paul. What is the domicile status of Lord Paul? What is his tax status?

At least Ashcroft worked his way up from pretty much nothing.

Glad to see Labour nearly screwed themselves when they attempted to legislate against Ashcroft. I found it funnier to see how quickly they backed off.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. There is a difference - Ashcroft is involved in Tory policy at the highest level

Billionaire Tory donor Lord Ashcroft was embroiled in fresh controversy last night after it emerged that he accompanied the shadow foreign secretary to key meetings overseas, amid rumours that he will be given a top foreign policy role in a future Conservative government.

The Observer can reveal that the peer, who pumps millions of pounds into marginal seats but refuses to say whether he pays tax in Britain, is flying William Hague around the world and went with him on his recent trip to the US, during which Hague met Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and other key US figures.

The Tories last night confirmed that Ashcroft had been on the trip and attended some meetings, but refused to say who he had met, or whether he was being groomed for a high-level foreign policy position either in an advisory or a ministerial capacity in a future Tory government.

As well as meeting Clinton, Hague was scheduled to see national security adviser General Jim Jones, Senate committee on foreign relations chair John Kerry, Senator John McCain and World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/01/lord-ashcroft-conservative-party

Though Belize seems to be getting fed up with him:

But while Ashcroft may be a ghost in Belize, his spirit is everywhere. Such is his position that in 2007, when his Belize Bank faced 80 separate charges of failing to comply with anti-money-laundering laws – charges the bank firmly denied – the case was withdrawn for fear that any damage to the bank would trigger the collapse of the Belizean economy.
...
The country's prime minister, Dean Barrow, put things into perspective this year when he told its parliament: "Ashcroft is an extremely powerful man. His net worth may well be equal to Belize's entire GDP. He is nobody to cross."
...
Similarly, politicians in Belize have reason to genuflect before Ashcroft. When the People's United party (PUP) swept the United Democratic party (UDP) from office in 1998, it did so with the help of "significant contributions" from Ashcroft, and may have outspent its rivals by as much as 10 to one, according to media reports that the businessman described as largely accurate.

Ten years on, the PUP government and its leader, the then prime minister, Said Musa, were held in contempt. The government was widely seen as corrupt, incompetent and ineffectual, and the UDP romped home. Part of the problem for the PUP, according to Nicole Haylock, a lecturer in politics and criminal justice at the University of Belize, was its relationship with Ashcroft. "People believe that the last government gave him what he wanted; they were at his service, they had a very amicable arrangement and the people didn't like that," she said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/01/lord-ashcroft-belize-scrutiny

[TheBigotBasher]

5. As is Lord Paul,

Lord Sainsbury, Lord Sugar and far far more controversial Lord Drayson. Nice how a few grand donation to Bliar got you a no bid contract worth hundreds of thousands, a seat in the Lords and a government position that enables you to renew that no bid contract.