Downing Street Says » Party Funding

Put to him that Charles Clarke had said that the fact that Jack Dromey had not known about some of the loans to the Labour party raised serious questions about his capacity as party treasurer, the PMOS said that that was entirely a matter for the Labour party.

Asked if the Prime minister was concerned that some of those he had nominated for peerages had had their reputations damaged by the press scrutiny, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister hadn’t written the media reports and we should be clear on that. Equally the system hadn’t written the media stories. The media seemed to be ducking responsibility for what it writes and had to take responsibility for itself. The PMOS re-iterated what he had said yesterday, and what the Prime Minister had said in his press conference last Thursday, that there was a problem and that was why Sir Hayden Phillips had been asked to look at this issue. If money was said to come from individuals or corporations then those individuals or corporations were subject to the sort of intrusive scrutiny that we had seen over the last few days and concern was expressed. At the same time there did not seem to be a huge enthusiasm for state funding of political parties. Therefore, on that basis, you had a situation where political parties would not have any financial support. Political parties could not live on air so you had to try and get to a situation where there was a consensus on how we moved forward and that was the point of the Hayden Phillips review.

Asked if the Prime Minister accepted that he would no longer have a role in fund raising, the PMOS said that that was a party matter. Asked if Sir Hayden Phillips would take evidence form the Government the PMOS said that Sir Hayden Phillips would take evidence from whoever wished to give evidence. It seemed most likely that it would be the political parties in the first instance and other stakeholders such as the Electoral Commission in addition. It was more likely to come through the party route rather than the government route. Sir Hayden Phillips was an independent figure. He was no longer a civil servant and was free to take advice from whoever he wished. Asked if the Prime Minister had been asked to give evidence, the PMOS said that it was premature to talk about that since we had only agreed the terms of reference with Sir Hayden Phillips this week. Naturally the Prime Minister would give evidence if asked.

Asked to confirm whether the Prime Minister would be meeting the leader of the Conservative party David Cameron to talk about this issue, the PMOS said yes. The meeting was likely to take place some time after the Prime Minister’s visit to Australia. Asked who proposed the meeting, the PMOS said that, as he understood it, the leader of the Opposition had written to the Prime Minister suggesting a meeting on this issue and the Prime Minister had happily agreed. Asked if he had meant that the meeting would take place at some time after Australia or some time after Australia, the PMOS complimented the journalist on the question and said that it deserved some sort of award for pedantry above and beyond the call of duty.

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» Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Party Funding

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