Quentin Davies MP: No taxpayers' money for spin doctors, campaigning and political advertising

Quentin Davies is MP for Grantham and Stamford and was Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland during the last parliament.

Imagine the reaction here – especially the reaction of the eurosceptic tabloids – if it were discovered that Italian Senators had bought their way into the upper chamber of the Italian Parliament.  “Typical” they would write, “we all know Italian politics is utterly corrupt”.  Of course these benighted and wretched foreigners – the Daily Mail and the Sun would use different, monosyllabic language – could hardly be expected to observe the pure standards of public conduct we have evolved here after centuries of Parliamentary life.

We now all have to eat humble pie.  It is clear that a scandal of major proportions has been going on for years – under both Conservative and Labour Governments.

As I said in my Question to the Prime Minister on 15 March “Does the Prime Minister share my revulsion at the fact that this is the only country in the world that calls itself a democracy where it appears that one can buy one’s way into the legislature simply by giving a lot of money to one of the three major parties?”  Tony Blair responded with a characteristic deflection “we are the Party and the Government who introduced transparency into party funding.”

Had I known at that moment of Jack Dromey’s revelations (they only came out later that day on “Newsnight” in a programme that started with a clip of my exchange with Tony Blair),  I would no doubt have made some immediate riposte about “transparency”.  Repackaging gifts as “loans” so they do not have to be disclosed hardly fits the description of “transparency”.

The whole loans ploy is in itself highly suspect.  If the loans are not on commercial terms – that is to say if they would not have been available from commercial lenders on the same conditions – then it is clear that they should have been disclosed under electoral law. But if they are “on commercial terms” and therefore could have been raised from financial institutions why on earth wasn’t this done in the first place?  That would have avoided arousing any personal expectations or creating any suspicion of corruption.

What do we do now?  I detect a universal commitment to clean up our act (indeed as I sat down after asking my question to Tony Blair I caught the eye of a Labour Cabinet Minister opposite who sent me an unmistakable signal of support).

I welcome the police investigation.  Obviously, it must be thorough and fearless – and be seen to be both.  Only once it and any judicial process that ensues are complete, can the Select Committee investigate – but that should happen as soon as possible thereafter – and they in turn will face a great challenge in being genuinely rigorous and politically impartial.

If political parties can no longer count on corrupt contributions, and if, as David Cameron wisely suggested, maximum limits are set for political contributions, will that create a funding crisis for political parties?  Is the longer term solution to provide state funding for political parties?  I am personally prepared to vote for modest sums strictly for policy research for Opposition parties (on the basis that the civil service is available to the Government for their policy research).  That is the principle on which the present system of “Short Money” is based.  But taxpayers’ money to pay for spin doctors, for campaigning and for political advertising?  Certainly not in my book.  And I don’t think the public would wear it for a moment.  On the contrary, I believe we should tighten the rules to prevent a government in power or opposition parties receiving “Short Money” from misusing public money for these things.

Of course all the spin doctors, advertising gurus and political PR firms in the country will now be lobbying their current paymasters to get their hands on taxpayers’ money so as to replace the proceeds of the sale of peerages.  They should not succeed.  Politics will get a far better reputation in our country if our dependence on spin doctors and advertising is reduced.

For those who think there might be dire political consequences, I am tolerably certain that neither spin doctors nor advertising campaigns have ever made a difference to an election result in my time – except perhaps to reduce the Conservative vote even below what it would otherwise have been at the past three elections.  The Conservative Party have no sound ulterior motive for not taking the high road.

And if politics becomes just a little more austere and a little more straightforward and political dialogue becomes a little more focused on real records and real policies rather than on soft-focus image-manufacturing techniques, our democracy will emerge a great deal healthier for it.

Comments

[Chad]

Great article Quentin.

I see this move to state funding as a bigger threat to democracy than the parliamentary reform act because it effectively ends independent opposition to the government and replaces it with state-dependendent vehicles.

Don't bite the hand that feeds you
State-funded opposition parties are instantly compromised. They cannot attack the government with impunity as they remain dependent on the government for their very existence.

I can cope with windmills and media preening in front of glaciers, but I simply cannot believe that any conservative could support this policy of increased state control.

State funding is a dangerous and surely the conservatives should unequivocally oppose such a scheme, not present their own proposals?

[Serf]

Thank you for the excellent article. I too am sure that if the party sacked all their overpaid spin doctors and junked all the expensive advertising, it would make not one iota of difference.

More people would be willing to donate, if they thought the money was going to building up the party, not being wasted.

State payments to parties would always be dependent on the parties meeting certain characteristics, thereby putting limits on democracy. It would also increase the distance between politicians and the electorate, already measured in light years.

[Wat Tyler]

Quite right Quentin- I pasrticularly like your call for more austerity and straightforwardness.

Please keep hammering as loudly as you can on this, because out here among the hayricks we peasants are very concerned about some kind of palace stitch-up between TB and DC.

We trust you will let us know if you see that happening.

[Phil Taylor]

The State already spends massively on advertising at all levels:

• Central Office of Information spending has tripled since Labour came to power. £334 million in 2004-5 up from £111 million in 1997-8
• In London the budget for the Mayor's propaganda sheet is £2,857,488 for the current financial year. The advertising budget for Transport for London is many times this
• My own Labour council, Ealing, proposes to spend £457,000 this year on its own self-congratulatory free sheet.

It is only natural that State actors think it acceptable that political parties should act in the same way. The vast majority of this cash is wasted. Ordinary people are largely immune to these messages. The best way of getting through to them is through actual conversations. The parties need to recruit members and activists to go out and talk to real people. The State needs to cure its own communications disease and stop wasting our cash.

[Chad]

Great to see that the Taxpayers' Alliance have now clearly come out against state funding of political parties.

Will any bigger party other than my one-man band please stand up and oppose this terrible scheme?

[Ian Sider]

How about a law requiring that the cost of producing and distributing any state funded publication be displayed prominently on its front cover?

[Alison Anne Smith]

When we get back into power let's State fund MS Nurses first?
I agree Government funds should not be "wasted", political parties can fund themselves.

[Geoff Allen]

First time that I have ever heard of a rat joining a sinking ship.

[redsafdvc]

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