Saatchi vs Ashcroft

A story that has been bubbling away for a long time surfaced in this morning's Mail on Sunday.

The MoS reports:

"A feud has erupted between multi-millionaire Tory peers Lord Saatchi and Lord Ashcroft over claims that advertising guru Saatchi helped one of his firms earn £500,000 from Michael Howard's Election campaign... Ashcroft demanded the [Tory] accounts make clear Saatchi was linked to advertising firm Immediate Sales - paid £500,000 to run the campaign... The firm is 80% owned by M&C Saatchi, parent company of Saatchi's advertising empire. Ashcroft's intervention comes after Saatchi stepped down as co-chairman following the Election and disowned the party's campaign, claiming it treated voters as 'morons'. 'He had the brass neck to slag off a campaign devised by one of his own companies which was paid a fortune,' said one source."

Every recent Tory election campaign has become associated with financial controversy:

> John Major's Tories spent so much in 1997 that William Hague struggled to keep the Tories afloat from 1997-99. Energies that could have been invested in the Tory's political renewal had to be invested in fundraising.

> The media agency Yellow M was paid a fortune during the 2001 campaign but went bust shortly afterwards. Although Yellow M was paid by the party, it failed to pay many people who had contributed to the Tory campaign.

> And this time round we have the suggestion that the Tory campaign fattened a company owned by the Tory co-chairman. It may well be that Immediate Sales was the best company for the job but it might have been better for a complete separation of Lord Saatchi's political and commercial interests.

Part of reclaiming the overall Conservative reputation for economic competence is to put its own financial house in order.

Comments

[James Hellyer]

Did Lord Saatchi commission his own firm? If he andhe alone made that decision. it would indicate that he Conservative Party has appallingly weak internal controls. In any business, a whopping great conflict of interest like that would preclude someone from being able to make that decision.