“Rich Labour Member gives £100k to Labour” is not the biggest surprise in the whole world. When it’s Tony Blair, though, and he’s giving £20k to campaigns against Liberal Democrat MPs who stood up against his catastrophic intervention in Iraq, that will set Liberal Democrat blood boiling.
At least that’s what Tim Farron hopes.
He’s sending an email to members and supporters asking them to donate enough to match Blair’s £20k against our MPs. Labour candidates fighting fabulous Lib Dem MPs like Lynne Featherstone, Jo Swinson, Jenny Willott and Julian Huppert will be getting Blair money.
Anything you donate will be spent directly trying to win those seats and others like them and is money well spent to keep these stellar Liberal Democrats in Parliament.
Farron said:
We reckon that about £20,000 of his donation is going directly to fighting the Liberal Democrats in seats where we’re up against Labour. Those Liberal Democrat candidates opposed Blair’s illegal war in Iraq and are fighting to get the Chilcot report published so he can be held to account.
He is trying to silence them, and we don’t want to let him.
Please will you make a donation today, so we can match the £20,000 Blair has put into fighting Lib Dem candidates?
Every pound you give will go into our election campaign and will be used on the front line. Every Lib Dem candidate is committed to getting the Chilcot report published, so that Tony Blair can be held to account.
A donation from you today will help make that happen.
I did try to harden my heart to this one, but when I saw the photo of Blair on the donation page, I seriously couldn’t help myself. Let’s send Blair a message by matching his £20k today.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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22 Comments
“He is trying to silence them, and we don’t want to let him.”
What a ridiculous claim by the man expected to be the party leader post-GE.
Blair is donating to Labour candidates for exactly the same reasons as LD donors make donations – to bolster the candidates election campaign in the hope they win the seat.
Catastrophic intervention in Iraq. Who agreed and inplemented the catastrophic intervention in Libya? Glass houses and all that.
Rich Labour member ?
What’s the beef Caron ? Doesn’t the party have any rich donors anymore ?
No more rich convicted fraudsters like Michael Brown, entrepreneurs like Palumbo, or pizza moguls like Rumi Verjee to stump up ?
MartinB – So presumably you think Tony Blair is giving money to Labour to help the Lib Dems win in those seats. Now I do know several ex labour people who despise him, but really!
Or do you really believe that each ordinary member of the public has as much influence as an MP with the House of Commons as a sounding board? Well over 1 million marched against invading Iraq and Tony Blair ignored them all. But he couldn’t avoid the House of Commons. Sadly almost all of the Conservative MPs (as expected) and two thirds of Labour voted for war. For want of some more principled Labour MPs, the vote would have lost, war averted, Tony Blair would have resigned and perhaps even the worst of the Banking Crisis could have been stopped. If only …
MartinB 5th Mar ’15 – 2:48pm…..“He is trying to silence them, and we don’t want to let him.”
What a ridiculous claim by the man expected to be the party leader post-GE.Blair is donating to Labour candidates for exactly the same reasons as LD donors make donations – to bolster the candidates election campaign in the hope they win the seat.
Agreed! I’m no fan of Blair but, as far as I’ve read the news, he is giving £1000 to every Labour candidate. Spinning the story, to make it sound like a personal vendetta just aimed at those who voted against the Iraq war, is nonsense…
@expat
Good points.
I find it sad that Caron seems to be [in my opinion] descending into the kind of tribalism against Labour that she & some other LDV posters complain about in members of that party.
I’m no fan of Blair, but if he is making a donation to help put a stop to the current government, he cannot be all bad.
Perhaps Blair is making his donation to get rid of all those LibDem MP’s that voted to triple tuition fees, bring in the bedroom tax, introduce secret courts etc. Sounds like a good idea to me.
I though it was an excellent fundraising email.
Libya and Iraq are completely incomparable.
rob 5th Mar ’15 – 9:20pm ..I though it was an excellent fundraising email. Libya and Iraq are completely incomparable…
Really? We destabilised Iraq on a lie….We destabilised Libya on a lie….Sounds fairly comparable to me.. Unless, of course, the difference is that LibDems voted against Iraq and voted for Libya?
Iraq was an illegal invasion in contravention of the United Nations. Libya was a legal intervention with the agreement of the United Nations.
In Libya there was an immediate threat of Genocide, in Iraq this immediate threat simply wasn’t there (I’m not downplaying the atrocities Saddam unleashed but he wasn’t about to raze a city if million people)
The Iraq invasion was occupation, the Libyan intervention was in reality limited support of a legitimate (at the time) opposition movement.
Iraq was a premeditated strike whereas Libya was a reaction to a looming situation.
Finally we did destabilise Iraq on a lie whereas Libya was already destabilised.
@ Malc
Thanks for persuading me to donate £15.
Well done.
“I find it sad that Caron seems to be [in my opinion] descending into the kind of tribalism against Labour”
Says PB Brown. How ironic that it should be followed by comments from Nick Collins and Malc, eh?
Kettle? Pot calling….
How many Lib Dem supporters continually post silly, hostile comments on Labour List compared to the bunch that regularly appear here?
RC
“Malc”
“Thank you for persuading me to donate £15”
I wish you had kept that a secret, I’ll be getting a email from Caron soon asking me to be a fund raiser.
I loathe Blair and everything he stands for.
His ill-gotten millions from dubious sources says more about him than I ever could.
I feel sorry for the Labour Party that they cannot make a clean break from this friend of dictators.
The real nightmare for me is that one day Blair and Blairites will apply to join the Liberal Democrats.
I have a list of LDV regulars who I bet would line up to welcome him. You can probably guess who they are.
RC 6th Mar ’15 – 10:52am How many Lib Dem supporters continually post silly, hostile comments on Labour List compared to the bunch that regularly appear here…
It’s a reflection of the current party line just how many critics are deemed ‘Labour’ rather than ‘Disenchanted LibDems’……Labour support has remained steady for years whilst ours has plummeted so there’s a lot of us DLs about
Every mention of Labour in our election literature in those seats must surely now make the point that the “millionaire former Prime Minister Tony Blair” has personally made a huge donation to the Labour Party in the area.
@Rob. The destabalisation in Libya was caused by the West in the first place as in Iraq and Syria. You cannot justify the slaughter in Libya from coalition bombs and armed by the west militias. Libya is now the gateway for Daesh into Europe. Well done. Hardly a word about the atrocities happening in Libya now is there? Far far worse than under Gaddaffi.
@ RC The only “tribe” to which I have ever belonged was the Liberals and then the Liberal Democrats. I left them simply because it was illogical to continue supporting a party which was propping up a government the main thrust of whose policies I deplored.
Anne I’m sorry Libya was already destabilised well before western forces became involved. there was a vicious civil war going on in a way that there wasn’t in Iraq. Is your answer to allow a Rwanda style massacre – because that is what would have happened if we hadn’t got involved?
I don’t doubt there have being horrors in Libya post Gaddafi but it’s highly debatable that the intervention caused that or can be blamed for it.
Rob. Hide your head in the sand as much as you like. It is difficult to face responsibility and guilt. The west destabilised in the first place as they have the Ukraine. Conflict is the US wet dream.
rob 7th Mar ’15 – 1:46pm …Anne I’m sorry Libya was already destabilised well before western forces became involved. there was a vicious civil war going on in a way that there wasn’t in Iraq. Is your answer to allow a Rwanda style massacre – because that is what would have happened if we hadn’t got involved? …I don’t doubt there have being horrors in Libya post Gaddafi but it’s highly debatable that the intervention caused that or can be blamed for it.
Under Gaddafi Libyans experienced the longest life expectancy, best medical care and highest standard of living in Africa…
The protests started on 15th February and within a month the west was bombing Gaddafi supporters…. Without western intervention Gaddafi would have retaken Benghazi and the country would have returned to stability (albeit with loss of life).. However, the loss of life would have been on a far, far smaller scale than happened…
The west, used the ‘protection of civilians’ to mean only ‘rebel civilians’ and abandoned any pretence that their ongoing purpose was the overthrow of Gaddafi….
His removal was achieved by destroying the infrastructure and cohesive governance of the country, leaving it the ‘basket case it is today….
Strange how, when the ‘Arab Spring’ impinged on ‘friendly’ dictatorships (e.g. Bahrain) brutal repression, torture, and
the use of foreign troops (mainly Saudi and UAE) went unheeded by the west…