Blair verkoopt posities eerste kamer ( UK )

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Ad.nl Kritiek op Blair na leningen
Door FRANKA HUMMELS

LONDEN - De Britse premier Blair leende bijna 20 miljoen euro van rijke partijgenoten om de kas van Labour te spekken.

Sommigen beloofde hij een titel en een zetel in het Hogerhuis, de Britse Eerste Kamer. Penningmeester Dromey van Blairs Labourpartij wist nergens van.

Tot 1999 waren de plaatsen in het Hogerhuis erfelijk. Na een hervorming worden de leden van het Hogerhuis benoemd op basis van verdienste. Alle partijen kunnen nu kandidaten aandragen. Wie wordt benoemd, krijgt de titel ‘Lord’.

Alle giften die partijen ontvangen, moeten gemeld worden. Maar leningen mogen onbekend blijven. Blair heeft ten minste drie donateurs voorgedragen voor het Hogerhuis. Dat kwam aan het licht doordat één van hen, Chai Patel, aangaf dat hij dit een dubieuze gang van zaken vond. Blair ontkent dat er een verband is tussen voordracht en donatie. Wel beloofde hij veranderingen in het benoemingssysteem.

Ook de vrouw van penningmeester Dromey, als minister formeel verantwoordelijk voor de Hogerhuisbenoemingen, wist van niets. Partijleden trekken daarom Blairs betrouwbaarheid als premier in twijfel.

De Lord-titel wordt doorgaans als eervol gezien. Vastgoedmagnaat David Garrard heeft Blair echter gevraagd hem zo snel mogelijk van de nominatielijst te schrappen. Dat bezoedelt zijn goede naam.

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Labour was secretly loaned £14m

Labour was secretly loaned £13,950,000 by wealthy individuals ahead of last year's election, it has confirmed.
The figure is more than three times the amount previously thought, and most of it was used in Labour's £18m campaign.

Labour says it will name lenders in future amid claims - vehemently denied by ministers - those lending money were being rewarded with peerages.

Downing Street has appointed an ex-top civil servant to lead cross-party talks on the future of party funding.

Sir Hayden Phillips - described by No 10 as an "independent figure" - was permanent secretary in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Lord Chancellor's department.

His terms of reference will be announced shortly but are likely to include possible state funding of political parties - an idea backed by Cabinet ministers including Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt.

Tory loans

Tony Blair has always ruled out such a move but his official spokesman said he wanted to seek a "consensus" with other parties on the issue.

The Conservatives have also pledged to name people who lend the party money in future and they have revealed that they already publish the amount they receive in loans in their annual accounts.

The latest figure available is for 2004, when the party was lent £9,021,000 at commercial rates, plus £4,316,000 interest free from constituency associations. The figures for 2005 will be published in July.

A Conservative spokesman said: "The crucial difference is that we haven't been trying to do anything in secret and our party treasurer knows exactly what is going on."

Anonymous

The figures released by Labour for 2005 mean the bulk of the £17.94m the party spent on its general election campaign was paid for by loans from individuals on the understanding their names would not be made public.

Ministers have been swift to point out there is nothing illegal about this - under current rules, political parties have to declare donations of more than £5,000 but loans can remain anonymous.

A Labour spokesman said the loans were taken out at commercial rates and would be repaid. Press reports suggest the party was forced to turn to individual lenders after its bankers refused to enlarge its overdraft.

On Thursday Tony Blair pledged to review the party funding system after it emerged even Labour's treasurer Jack Dromey had not been told about the loans - something the prime minister admitted was wrong.

He also admitted he had not told the Lords appointment committee three of his candidates for working peerages had given the party loans.

Working peers

He pledged changes to party funding, ministers' private interests and the honours system.

Mr Blair also said that he wanted to renounce the right personally to nominate people for honours.

Downing Street later said this was a role he rarely used, while Mr Blair himself made clear that the present system of party leaders - including him - nominating working peers would remain, pending the final stage of House of Lords reform.

Mr Blair would also retain the right to nominate a small number of peers for distinguished public service, such as the outgoing NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp, Downing Street said.

Number 10 also said it is seeking a second independent figure, "who has the confidence of ministers and the wider public," for the role of advising ministers on their financial interests.

Such a move was first suggested in the wake of the controversy surrounding the financial affairs of Tessa Jowell and her husband David Mills but was rejected by Number 10 at that stage.

'Too obsessed'

Meanwhile, Mr Dromey is carrying out an internal inquiry into the affair, which is due to report next week.

BBC2 Newsnight political editor Ms Kearney said there had been "deep-seated suspicion of these loans in the Labour Party for some time" and the practice had been "banned" under previous general secretaries David Triesman and Margaret McDonagh.

There were "various theories" as to why the ban had been lifted ahead of the last election, she added, including the fact that the party had been short of cash.

Former Labour deputy leader Lord Hattersley has said that he is "horrified" by the sums, which show the party is "too obsessed with the world of money".

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Loans defended by Labour chairman


Campaigning proved an "expensive process", Mr McCartney said
Labour's chairman has defended the way the party raised £13.95m in undisclosed loans from wealthy backers to fight last year's general election.
Ian McCartney said Labour acted within electoral law and used "every single penny" to get its MPs elected.

It was made clear "significantly more" would be spent campaigning, he said.

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Prescott in the dark about loans

Mr Prescott said many people were unhappy with the current system
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was "not happy" he found out about millions loaned to the Labour Party by reading it in the papers, he has told the BBC.
He told Sunday AM he believed the controversy would lead to state funding of political parties, which he backs.

Newspapers report a fourth lender, Sir Gulam Noon, has now been blocked from joining the House of Lords.

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Op zondag 19 maart 2006 19:04 schreef Dubbelzuurrr het volgende:
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Op zondag 19 maart 2006 17:58 schreef freako het volgende:

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Ik niet. Overigens heeft het Hogerhuis niet de mogelijkheid om een wetsvoorstel naar de prullenbak te verwijzen, ze kunnen het alleen naar het Lagerhuis terugsturen. In vergelijking met de Nederlandse Eerste Kamer is de macht een stuk minder. Eigenlijk is het een soort discussiegroepje.

Dit is overigens niet de eerste keer dat de regering-Blair in opspraak komt door giften. Kan me alleen de details ervan niet meer herinneren. Het was iets met de Formule I in ieder geval.

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UK Blair apologises for mishandling F1 row


"I didn't get it all wrong - but it hasn't been handled well and I apologize for that"

After his worst week in politics since becoming Prime Minister just over six months ago, Tony Blair has attempted to end the dispute over the £1m donation to his party by Formula One boss, Bernie Ecclestone.

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