Angie Bray Right To Accept Ashcroft Funding?

Questions raised over political correctness of Tory campaign

Questions have been raised over whether Central Ealing and Acton prospective parliamentary candidate Angie Bray was right to have accepted funding for her election campaign from the Conservative Party’s controversial donor, Lord Ashcroft.

Lord Ashcroft admitted this week that he was a ‘nom-dom’ meaning he does not pay tax to the Government on the majority of his earnings. Ashcroft was awarded his peerage in 2000, after promising to return to live in Britain and pay tax here. It has now emerged that this was a promise he never kept.

Angie Bray has never hidden the fact Lord Ashcroft is funding her election campaign for the newly formed Central Ealing and Acton seat.

In an interview with The Times in 2007 she admitted that she had been allocated a “generous” amount from the fund [multi million pound donation from Lord Ashcroft], believed to be between £15,000 to £20,000.

The tranche received so far has helped to pay for quarterly leaflets and direct mailshots to all households.

“But we only get the money if we have been out canvassing, and we have to show the evidence,” she said.

In an open letter to Angie Bray about Lord Ashcroft’s admission, Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Ealing Central & Acton Cllr Bassam Mahfouz said, “Instead of paying tens of millions of pounds in tax - money that could have helped pay for schools and hospitals - Lord Ashcroft chose to spend the money on David Cameron's campaign instead.

He added, “Instead of paying fair taxes, like everyone else has to in Ealing and Acton, he has been channeling millions into the Conservative Party to help them buy this election. So next time people in Ealing and Acton see your glossy leaflets, they have a right to feel that these expensive Tory campaigns have come at the cost of a new school or a new hospital wing in Ealing or Acton.”

March 4, 2010