Election spend
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Fascinating election totals:
- Tories £16 million
- Labour £12 million
- Liberals £4 million
- UKIP £3 million
- Greens £1 million
https://twitter.com/MichaelLCrick/status/689767126337507328
As usual, the party that spent the most (by quite a margin) won. Also, note, despite the 'threat' of UKIP they were massively outgunned. Note, also, the Tories are tryign to cripple Labour's ability to raise funds. Clearly, how this works is if Labour suddenly finds a business friendly leader, funds will come from capitalists, and financial hegeemony will hold sway. Labour's only hope is Tory civil war…
Quote:“Last time everyone talked about how it was the first social media election,” he said. “This time around it actually was and no one noticed.”As a result, the Conservatives’ online efforts were barely noticed by journalists because they targeted disengaged voters in marginal constituencies outside London with Facebook advertising.Young Master Smeet wrote:Fascinating election totals:Tories £16 millionLabour £12 millionLiberals £4 millionUKIP £3 millionGreens £1 millionhttps://twitter.com/MichaelLCrick/status/689767126337507328As usual, the party that spent the most (by quite a margin) won. Also, note, despite the 'threat' of UKIP they were massively outgunned. Note, also, the Tories are tryign to cripple Labour's ability to raise funds. Clearly, how this works is if Labour suddenly finds a business friendly leader, funds will come from capitalists, and financial hegeemony will hold sway. Labour's only hope is Tory civil war…Isn't Labours main hope to win the election? Isn't political influence reflected by funding not the other way around?
jondwhite wrote:Isn't Labours main hope to win the election? Isn't political influence reflected by funding not the other way around?It's not a one way street, sometimes the party that looks like it will win will attract the funds (as capitalists like to back winners)…
Oooh, Crick has the bit in his teeth:http://blogs.channel4.com/michael-crick-on-politics/electoral-commission-act-tory-thanet-expenses
Crick wrote:What stood out for me was a series of four bills claimed by the Conservatives for the Royal Harbour Hotel in Ramsgate last spring, in the constituency Nigel Farage was hoping to win, and which saw a fiercely-contested campaign. The hotel bills total £14,213.18 for the five weeks of the short campaign, from 30 March to 7 May.Yet the legal expense limit in Thanet South for that period was £15,016.38, and according to the Conservatives’ local expense return for the constituency, submitted last June, they spent £14,837 on the campaign, just £179 short of the legal limit. If one included the hefty bills from the national figures for the Royal Ramsgate Hotel – and I suspect many experts would argue they should be – then the total to elect Craig Mackinlay as the MP comes to £29,050, almost twice the legal spending limit in that seat.As he says, election eturns a to some extent fictional, and would not withstand foprensic examination (hence, he notes the gentleman's agreement not to challenge, since I suspect everyone would be found to be in breech). However, given how outgunned UKIP were, tehre may be quiet rammifications. This will have been noted.
Crick continues to chip away:http://blogs.channel4.com/michael-crick-on-politics/ramsgate-sleazebuster-refers-tory-14000-hotel-bills-kent-police/5214An member of the public has complained to the police.They will have to investigate, and this could go off like a bomb: keep an eye on it, since, as we run up to the election, a re-run at thanet, and a Tory sleeze headline could do some real damage…
Young Master Smeet wrote:jondwhite wrote:Isn't Labours main hope to win the election? Isn't political influence reflected by funding not the other way around?It's not a one way street, sometimes the party that looks like it will win will attract the funds (as capitalists like to back winners)…
I think who is likely to win is less important than past performance and value for money when donating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8ZKn3qXKAc&feature=youtu.beAnd they've done it before, Crick is on the case…Seems they did themselves in by staying in posh hotels, could have hired a house for less…
Actually, watching it through, I'm seething, not just for the blatant election stealing by bringing in lots of paid workers, but also because at the last election I bust a gut to make sure we declared everything (down to some very small receipts). I know some things slip throuh the cracks, but this is blatant, systematic and appears deliberate…
C$ spinning this out, might explain the Tories silence, since clearly they're doing a drip attack:https://twitter.com/frasereC4/status/696953549209653250Rest of the press muted (giving a short column inch to say they covered it, but not going big), but this is a big story: did they do this in Tory marginals at the general election?
http://order-order.com/2016/02/09/how-tories-hid-hotel-and-booze-bills-in-newark/The odious Guido has an inside track:
Quote:On 31 May 2014, over 350 young Tories boarded coaches and minibuses up to Newark for a day of campaigning. At the end of the day’s door-knocking, they needed something to eat and somewhere to stay. Paying for travel and hotels for that many people would rack up thousands in by-election expenses. So, the Tories ferried their activists to the Crowne Plaza hotel in Nottingham, outside of the constituency. There, Tory donors treated them to curry at an event named the “first annual RoadTrip dinner” – pictured above – where Rob Halfon and Eric Pickles gave speeches. After that they boozed at the Coco Lounge and NG1 bars, before returning to the hotel, where they made contributions to their room bills.That one is cunning, now, my reading is that one is legit (indeed, there's no reason why they couldn't have bussed them home at the end of the day) but the bus fares to the constiuency should have been declarable.Now, it's only a small step from a cunnign wheeze like this becoming routine, to actual infringements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDvKKDX_rggPart 2: ThanetIt really would have been cheaper to rent a few houses…
http://www.electionexpenses.co.uk/ITN/Channel Four are going big on this and shelling out for a website. I suspect they are sure of their ground, and see this as a slow burn story. Sadly, it only becomes big after a conviction, and chances are the police of the commission will bury it before it coems to court, as any conviction will be marginal:
Quote:The elections watchdog has launched a probe into general election campaign spending by the Conservatives linked to the key South Thanet constituency following a Channel 4 News investigation.Police are waiting for the Election Commission to report before they step in and investigate. Since what the Tories seem to be doing is relying on a sort of 'primary purpose' rule, so if they 'just happen' to have a conference in the neighbourhoood, and the attendees 'happen' to go canvassing in the afternoon, then the accomodation cost won't apply…
Ah, as thouht, the first oif the end points, as police say by-elections have timed out under electoral law, and:https://twitter.com/MichaelLCrick/status/700687841110712320
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