UK

The corrupting influence of political donations laid bare


The Guardian
Wed, 20 December 2023 

Photograph: Dan Chung/The Guardian

Peter Mandelson is right (Blair felt under pressure to ban foxhunting after donation, says Mandelson, 15 December). I’ve known for many years that Labour’s Hunting Act 2004 was bought and paid for by a political donation, but I was surprised to see Mandelson admit it in an eruption of honesty. I know because in 1996 I was sent by Tony Blair’s chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, to the Draycott Hotel in Chelsea to meet Brian Davies, the founder of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Standing on the doorstep, I collected from him a cheque for £1m made out to Labour. As he handed over the cheque, he was fiercely direct: “We have to stop hunting with dogs.”

At the time, I was running Labour fundraising with Jon Norton, a former banker who went on to marry the wonderful Mo Mowlam. Then Tony Blair appointed Michael Levy to run a Labour “high donor” campaign.

My focus with Norton had been on increasing Labour membership and using mailshots combined with growing internet use to bring in thousands of small donations. We also set up the “1,000 club” with the objective of attracting 1,000 members to donate £1,000 each. The target of £1m was seen as huge by cash-strapped Labour, a perspective that made Davies’ donation all the more astounding.


We set our faces specifically against attracting large donations because of the potential they carry for corrupting policy and people.

With Davies’ cheque warm in my mind, as soon as I was told that Blair wanted to concentrate on high-level donors, I went immediately to see the general secretary of the Labour party, Margaret McDonagh, and told her that I was resigning from fundraising. She asked me why. I said: “If someone gives you £100,000 they want something. If they give you £1m they demand it.”

It’s all a most terrible shame. Party political funding is deeply corrupting. We need state funding of political parties, combined with prison sentences for those who breach tightly prescriptive rules.
Brian Basham
Crowhurst, East Sussex