Tag Archives: donors

11 March 2024 – today’s press releases (part 1)

  • Lee Anderson: PM cannot govern his own party let alone the country
  • David Neal: Home Office in a state of disrepair
  • Frank Hester: Sunak must return donations and rule out peerage
  • “Early childcare the key to fighting poverty” – Welsh Lib Dems push for fully integrated childcare system in Wales

Lee Anderson: PM cannot govern his own party let alone the country

Responding to reports that Lee Anderson will defect from the Conservatives to Reform, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP said:

Rishi Sunak’s authority lies in tatters after the man he personally appointed to be Deputy Chairman of the Conservatives has defected to another party. This is a Prime Minister that cannot govern his own party let alone the country.

Even now Sunak is too weak to rule out Nigel Farage joining the Conservative Party. It just shows that there is now hardly a cigarette paper between the Conservative Party and Reform.

David Neal: Home Office in a state of disrepair

Responding to the comments made by the former Independent Borders Inspector David Neal to the BBC, the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said:

These comments confirm what we already suspected – the Home Office is in a state of total dysfunction and disrepair.

Nothing is working how it should. Now, we don’t even have a Chief Inspector to provide the scrutiny that is so desperately needed.

To think that this Conservative Government can push forward with their failing Rwanda policy while ducking accountability is disgraceful. The Home Office cannot just withhold reports and information that they don’t like.

At the very least, its implementation should be delayed until the Government can get its act together and appoint a Chief Inspector.

Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , and | Leave a comment

Money matters to our party

It is impossible to run a political party or an election campaign without the necessary financial resources. Political parties have three major sources of income: member subscriptions, trade union contributions and donor support.

The alternative to such sources of revenue is for the state to provide tax payer support, or for campaigning spend to be very strictly curtailed, or a combination of both.   The first of these alternatives, particularly if substantial sums were involved, would certainly not be popular with the wider public.   The second would require a major reform of political expenditure, and currently does not have the support of Labour or the Conservatives.

Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of donor fundraising for a variety of reasons, including fears of undue donor influence by high net-worth donors, but we Liberal Democrats pride ourselves on the powerful protocols we have in place to protect the Party from any such risks.

It is imperative we encourage and value our individual donors for their support, both historically and going forward. The Party has a range of structures to enable that engagement, supported by a dedicated team in Party HQ.  The Fundraising Board, chaired by the current Party Treasurer and my successor, Tilly McAuliffe (in photo), drives this part of work, but we are supported by a range of networks to develop our relationships further including the Liberty Network, the Business & Entrepreneurs Network and the Legacy Society.

One of the most important and strategic examples of donor engagement in recent times was Andrew Dixon’s two-step initiative in the summer of 2019. With a General Election on the horizon, Andrew firstly undertook an extensive business outreach exercise – Project Phoenix – building key relationships around Party objectives, primarily our stance on Brexit, our deep engagement with business and our pursuit of a strong economy in which business can flourish.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 2 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Andy Daer
    Currently, Iran hates America because America hates Iran, and America hates Iran because Iran hates America. In one of the Mullah Nasruddin fables, Nasruddin...
  • Andy Daer
    @John Waller, we don't actually know what that the last thing Netanyahu wants is. If he brings about regime change, that would be good for the Iranian people, a...
  • Simon R
    Realistically we do have a problem that people are going to University to study certain subjects in far greater numbers than demand exists for jobs that require...
  • John Waller
    Andy you say: ‘Netanyahu becoming more powerful is troubling, but for me the most disturbing thing today was hearing that Netanyahu claims to be acting solely...
  • Geoffrey Payne
    I have not seen any comments from the Parliamentary party about their opinion about what is going on here. The government of Israel has become a regional supe...