Text of Conservative Letter re Newsnight revelations
- 15 Jan 08, 06:51 PM
Lisa Klein
Director of Party Funding
The Electoral Commission
Trevelyan House
Great Peter Street
London SW1P 2HW
Tuesday, 15th January 2008
Ö÷²¥´óÐã Newsnight last night drew attention to three flights taken by David Cameron in October 2005 which were declared in the Register of Members’ Interests but not to the Electoral Commission.
We have been looking into the discrepancy, and have tried to get to the bottom of what happened over two years ago.
In the case of the flight provided by Michael Spencer on 6 October 2005, David Cameron was invited by Michael Spencer to join him on his flight returning from Blackpool to London after the Conservative Party Conference that year. The cost per passenger was €899.41 per passenger, and therefore under the £1,000 threshold.
In the case of the helicopter flight on 13 October 2005 registered in the name of JJ Gallagher Estates in the Register of Members’ Interests, this was a mistaken registration. The flight was in fact paid for by Lord Harris – and covered by the registrations made for occasional use of a helicopter by Harris Ventures in the Register of Members’ Interests on 28 November 2005 and to the Electoral Commission in the name of Lord Harris on 10 November 2005. We are writing to the Registrar to correct the entry in the House of Commons register.
The outstanding question concerns the third flight - a helicopter from London to Dewsbury and then on to Blackpool on 2nd October 2005. Although a very large number of flights were declared in both registers, we cannot establish why this particular flight was only registered in the Register of Members’ Interests. Mr Cameron would therefore be grateful if you could please add this to his declaration with the Electoral Commission.
Mr. Cameron always endeavours to report everything appropriately. You will see that he has declared a large number of flights over this period to both the Electoral Commission and to the Registrar.
From this point on, in order to streamline and simplify the process and remove any uncertainty about what flights to declare and questions over their precise value, Mr Cameron intends to ignore the threshold differentials between the Register of Members’ Interests and the Electoral Commission and to declare all donated flights to both.
Edward Llewellyn
Chief of Staff
cc: Sam Younger – Chairman of the Electoral Commission
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A typical Labour/Ö÷²¥´óÐã smear tactic to try and distract the attention that Hain is receiving in spite of the best efforts from Labour/Ö÷²¥´óÐã to spin the story.
I am not a Conservative nor am I a Labour supporter, however, I wish to register my displeasure with yet another clear example of the Ö÷²¥´óÐã doing it's best to support it's political masters.
Newsnight staffers must be living in some strange bubble if they really think that people cannot see through this idiotic attempt to push Hain from the agenda.
The continued attacks against the Conservatives and Liberals are one reason why the Ö÷²¥´óÐã received only 7% of people saying it could be trusted, I have never voted Conservative but between the stench of sleaze coming out of the Labour party and the nauseating bias from the Ö÷²¥´óÐã you have convinced me that to vote Conservative is the only option open.
Well done Ö÷²¥´óÐã!.
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Joseph,
We led the programme on Friday and last night on the Hain revelations and will do more on this tonight, that would be a very odd way to behave if we wanted to distract viewers from the story.
Peter
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I agree totally with Joseph. I have in the past thought the Ö÷²¥´óÐã was always blamed by both main parties of being biased in favour of the other but for the last few years since the Dr Kelly affair the Ö÷²¥´óÐã appears to have lost all journalistic bottle. For Paxman last night to present the Hain saga alongside Cameron's declared Helicopter flights as though there was some kind of equivalence was just the pits. Has Paxman lost his bottle in not challenging his editor? Why the desire to protect this sleazy corrupt government. The Ö÷²¥´óÐã are just becomning accomplices to a slippery slope towards a banana republic.
Ö÷²¥´óÐã news editor - time to stand back and be objective.
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Joseph
Newsnight did the research to try to uncover discrepancies, so that they could report them.
fair enough, however has similar research been carried out on Gordon Brown?...
Browns inks with the Smith Institute and the circular flow of taxpayers money prior to his becoming PM will be a good place to start.
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Agree generally with the above.
Like most people I rely on the news.to keep me informed. Having had an enforced stay at home I have extended my usual scope and have been left feeling betrayed at the extent of the poor journalism and bias in favour of the Gov to be found at the Ö÷²¥´óÐã.
A few nights ago a Welsh Nat was accused of being 'dispicable' when he questioned Peter Hain's conduct.
Martha Kearney did give him the chance to reply but gave the time left to the Labour man to reinterate his comments already made ie. 'no idea what has happened but I know Peter and I know it will be OK'.
Oh that's alright then!
Previously I would have put it down to unfortunate handling.
The truth is, other Party would get away with it.
The public are your ultimate protection against your political masters and you are losing them. Outside your Ö÷²¥´óÐã ivory tower, your reputation is being eroded. One day you will have different political masters and you will have left yourself vulnerable.
As a long time supporter of the Beeb and regular of Newsnight it is with sadness we part company at least for the time being. I cannot continue to go to bed cross. We are not the fools you seem to take us for.
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Regarding the programme tonight about NHS 24 and the tired doctors.When were doctors(GP's) employed to work 5 days a week Monday till Friday? They have held the NHS to ransom when an alternative Service had to be put in place for the general public, and it is proving equally expensive if not more so. The NHS appears to be there to suit many of those who work within it, not for the UK citizens.
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If you look hard enough for bias, you'll find it everywhere in the media, (especially newspapers).
If you look hard enough for bad journalism, you'll find it everywhere in the media (ESPECIALLY in newspapers).
If you look hard enough for an institute which allows one of its flagship programmes to investigate and heavily criticise several of it's other programmes leading to a channel controller resigning (totally unnecessarily btw) and a restructuring of the core values of the business... then I'm afraid you'll only find one.
The Ö÷²¥´óÐã IS biased, opinionated and political. It chases ratings and copies ideas. However, EVERY other channel does this as well but they do it more often, more cynically, more divisively and more cheaply and no-one is ever properly held to account.
The Ö÷²¥´óÐã has many flaws but in general, IN GENERAL... it has, is and will continue to represent the benchmark for the entire Worlds broadcasters. I often hear all these accusations ringing around and I can only assume these people are looking at specific individual items with no thought to find a counterpoint to their OWN bias, which appears to be against the Ö÷²¥´óÐã.
Perhaps it is testament to the high standards we expect from this institution, standards which it set.
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I'm obviously not alone in experiencing puzzlement at how the item on Cameron's expenses was considered editorially appropriate in the context of the ongoing Hain affair.
On its own it might have merited a raised eyebrow if thrown in at the end of the show. As a lead item on an ongoing row it seemed bizarrely petty and aggressively politicised. Or were you winding us up: that's how weird it seemed!
Would it be possible for the Editor to technically justify the item on the blog so that everyone has a better understanding of the functioning of Newsnight's internal processes?
I'm sure we'll all learn a lot!
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This report was just another example The Ö÷²¥´óÐã's institutional Labour bias.
The desperation to take the heat off Hain was so blatant I am amazed that the editors thought they could get away with it.
Get used to the idea that Labour is finished and that Cameron is considering selling this Labour propaganda machine to the highest bidder . Start thinking about your jobs !!! Oh I'm sorry that's exactly what you are doing
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Pull the other one Newsnight.
The Ö÷²¥´óÐã has been cheerleader in chief for the Labour Party when one scandal after another has left the electorate thoroughly disenfranchised.
Hain did not declare AT ALL, a massive difference between declaring and confusion to which oversight body.
Just in case the Ö÷²¥´óÐã newshounds have a temporary deficit of mojo at the moment; here's a few pointers.
Peter Hain
Progressive Policies Forum Limited
Morgan Allen Moore Limited
Steve Morgan
(Both the above 'organisations' have the same address).
Peter Morgan.
Perhaps also whilst the issue is pertinent you might want to look at the Smith Institute as well.
To play fast with facts leaves you wide open to bias, to ignore stories really does smack of the kind of selective reporting found more in the daily red-tops.
Get your act together, as the Ö÷²¥´óÐã's flagship news programme you are rapidly becoming a joke.
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Last night I expected Newsnight to apologise for its cackhanded attempt to smear David Cameron by inflating the cost and importance of 3 flights he took over two years ago but all we got was a staged self-justification . If Jeremy Paxman had conducted the interview with his colleague with the same rigour he applies to interviewing anyone else perhaps we might have found out why Newsnight chose to blacken Cameron's name in the middle of a report about Peter Hain.
And I agree with your other correspondents about the need to look into the activities and charitable status of the Smith Institute - particularly in view of today's announcement from the Charity Commision.
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Very poor show from Newsnight and is fully deserving of the criticisms of bias it is receiving. Peter Barron, you seem to be making a habit of this... You wouldn't want to develop a reputation for one-way political bias would you?
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It is really tiresome that conservative supporters complain of bias when the news doesn't reflect their own biased world view. Perhaps they could instead provide answers as to how an environmentally friendly political leader takes "a very large number of flights". Surely he should let the train take the strain or just stay at home.
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For those who complain about the Tory and other complainers please note, it extends to other parties - my post above was about the treatment of a Welsh Nat.
You may also care to know that the Hain story was a well known all over the blog weeks before The Guardian did the first piece for a national. I, a rookie news surfer found it. Frankly, it was hard to miss. Took me about 4 mins to find the site of some strangley named guy who had uncovered this weeks ago. The Beeb?... do absolutely NOTHING even though it is on a plate. Once someone else puts it in the news, they are not left with much choice but to cover it. Do they grab it by the throat and try to get answers to the many remaining questions. No, they go after Cameron and come back with some tit bit wagging their tail like a puppy with a bone. Watergate it isn't.
As for the Beeb being the benchmark by which others judge themselves, let us ask the guy who uncovered the Hain Story and tried to get it noticed for weeks and who is still tenaciously persuing it.
Mike T has knows about it. I bet he didn't find it by watching the Beeb. I undertstand what he is talking about. Do you?
If not, Ö÷²¥´óÐã watcher's ask yourself, why?
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PUBLIC BENEFIT: OUTCOME MEASURES
I take it that the Charity Commission's guidlines will demand that 'Public Benefit' is quantitatively demonstrated by evidence based OUTCOME measures, audited by research competent regulators?
This should apply to approved 'Third Sector' bodies calling themselves 'Think Tanks' with charitable status. After all, that's what's required of university based researchers when they bid for public funding (although even here standards have slipped). Still, if it isn't in the 2006, how can it be in the guidelines?
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If Mr Cameron had wished to be open, he should have taken the opportunity to ignore the diffrent threshholds and be completely open about the source of all his funding. But it seems to be Tory second nature to only declare what you have too. Its a good thing that Newsnight have caught him out - it is after all the third time he's been caught breaking the rules. We need to know who funds these people (so we can stop buying their carpets if we disagree with their politics). Conservatives on this forum crying foul because there is a bigger mess over at the Labour Party make me sick. A plague on both your houses!
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I also agree with Joseph, the Ö÷²¥´óÐã are always doing distraction tactics like this. For example, the day when Gordon Brown signed the EU treaty; Gordon wanted it to be a low key affair, so Newsnight did him a favour by pre-arranging a big special debate on binge drinking called "Boozenight", rather than doing a special on him signing the EU treaty. It looked really strange that Newsnight decided to do a binge drinking special on that day, when the rest of the media was going on about Gordon Brown's cynically planned late appearance.
Just type 'Ö÷²¥´óÐã bias' into Google and there's lots of more examples to read.
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PUBLIC BENEFIT: OUTCOME MEASURES
I take it that the Charity Commission's guidlines will demand that 'Public Benefit' is quantitatively demonstrated by evidence based OUTCOME measures, audited by research competent regulators?
This should apply to approved 'Third Sector' bodies calling themselves 'Think Tanks' with charitable status. After all, that's what's required of university based researchers when they bid for public funding (although even here standards have slipped). Still, if it isn't in the 2006, how can it be in the guidelines? The reality is that these are likely to remain diabolical shelters for all sorts of dodgy NGOs.
Wasn't one of the main purposes of the revised (2006) Act to promote the 'Third Sector', which will no doubt include serving as vehicles for party funding and the promotion of 'human rights'?
(2) A purpose falls within this subsection if it falls within any of the following descriptions of purposes—
(a) the prevention or relief of poverty;
(b) the advancement of education;
(c) the advancement of religion;
(d) the advancement of health or the saving of lives;
(e) the advancement of citizenship or community development;
(f) the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science;
(g) the advancement of amateur sport;
(h) the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity;
(i) the advancement of environmental protection or improvement;
(j) the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage;
(k) the advancement of animal welfare;
(l) the promotion of the efficiency of the armed forces of the Crown, or of the efficiency of the police, fire and rescue services or ambulance services;
(m) any other purposes within subsection (4).
Having looked at the Act in conjunction with New Labour policy to farm out as much of Public Services as possible to 'The Third Sector', I fear we're headed for the 'Trotskyite' sewers. This is what 'democratisation' means in New Labour's terms (and probably the Consrvatives' too). The people who will have power in the end are not the average 'man in the street', but unelected, unaccountable, questionably funded, NGOs, QUANGOs, 'Think Tanks' etc. Mark my words.
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Well?
No reply from Mr. Barron now huh?
Neutuered by Hutton, stuck on the teats of Labour's press office and stupified by a dearth of talent in Ö÷²¥´óÐã Current Affairs.
And the bloggers with limited resources are absolutely running rings around you on the Hain story and many others.
Meanwhile, your Chairman slashes your budget in favour of Two Pints of Lager....
I think he knows something for definite that we've suspected all along for sometime....
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Well?
No reply from Mr. Barron now huh?
Neutuered by Hutton, stuck on the teats of Labour's press office and stupified by a dearth of talent in Ö÷²¥´óÐã Current Affairs.
And the bloggers with limited resources are absolutely running rings around you on the Hain story and many others.
Meanwhile, your Chairman slashes your budget in favour of Two Pints of Lager....
I think he knows something for definite that we've suspected all along for sometime....
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"The big fat politicians blog?" I thought Pressy had gone!
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