Party donations in Cornwall update

Back in February I revealed the sources of local party donations received in 2014. I’m updating that blog here and extending the coverage back to January 2011, although that earlier piece contains some information not repeated here, for instance about individual donors in Cornwall. All donations to a constituency party above £1,500 have to be reported to the Electoral Commission. The following analysis is based on details of donations provided on the Commission’s website for the period from 1st January 2011 to now.

Here’s the headline picture by party.

Donations of £1,500+ Jan 2011-Jan 2015

Type of donor	Conservative	Liberal Democrat	Labour	Ukip	Greens	MK
Local individuals	£16,287	£64,858	£2,500	none	none	none
External donors	£38,436	none	none	none	none	none
Companies	£14,188	£2,000	£119,121	none	none	none
Total	£68,911	£66,858	£121,621	none	none	none

While the Greens and MK turned to crowdfunding to fund their campaigns we can see why the three Westminster parties didn’t need to bother with such small stuff. Nonetheless, there are interesting differences between the three neo-liberal, centr[al]ist parties. For instance, 44% of Tory donations came from outside Cornwall. The United and Cecil Club gave £5,000 to Steve Double’s campaign in St Austell and Newquay, another £5,000 to Derek Thomas at St Ives and £2,100 to George Eustice in Camborne and Redruth.

This organisation is described as ‘low profile’ and is registered at a stables in Iver, Bucks run by a former tobacco lobbyist. It’s also the bunch that organised a Tory fundraising bash in Knightsbridge, estimated to have raised at least £100,000 from the assorted super-rich who attended. Basically, it’s a conduit for channelling cash to Tory marginals, in the process providing some anonymity for its donors. Steve Double has also been boosted by another £4,187 from the Tandridge Club, another shadowy organisation based in Surrey and one with presumably the same function as the United and Cecil Club.

Nevertheless, the Tories receive the bulk of their local donations from local party organisations, although this was heavily concentrated in just two constituencies – St Austell and South East Cornwall. The rest came from companies. George Eustice at Camborne and Redruth was presumably grateful for £2,000 from FalFish, of Cardrew Industrial Estate, Redruth. Meanwhile, the Offshore Group of Newcastle (north of Bude), a firm involved in offshore oil and gas and renewable energy gave £10,000, split evenly between Sarah Newton at Truro and Sheryll Murray in South East Cornwall. With no obvious connections with Cornwall the fact that this compnay chose to support the two Tories best placed to retain their seats may be interesting. Not much chance of getting Sarah and Sheryll voting to stop further public subsidies for offshore oil and gas exploration then. Sarah was also given £2,188 by the local branch of London investment company FC Fund Managers.

What about the other wing of the coalition Government, the Lib Dems? Only Andrew George at St Ives has received a donation direct from business. He got £2,000 from the Chadwick brothers of Falmouth, who own the fashion firm Seasalt. The other Lib Dem candidates, while rather surprisingly funded overall almost as well as the Tories, seem to be dependent on individuals rather than businesses or organisations. But the vast bulk of the money collected for the Lib Dems was in just two constituencies – St Austell and Newquay and Camborne and Redruth. Rather curiously, in marginal North Cornwall neither Lib Dem incumbent nor Tory challenger seem to have been recipients of any donations since 2011.

But the really big money locally has been flowing to the Labour Party. Or more precisely one Labour candidate – Michael Foster at Camborne and Redruth. His campaign has benefited from £119,121 of donations over the past year, £42,727 to pay for ‘administrative services’ and £76, 392 described as ‘other’, maybe including payment for the rather well-produced newspapers which have been regularly falling onto local doormats over the past year.

This money all comes from Fostermco Ltd, whose sole director is – you’ve guessed it – media entrepreneur and millionaire Michael Foster. The company appeared to have had a paid up capital of ten pence in June 2014. This self-proclaimed ‘new’ sort of politician actually seems to have reverted to the rather old 18th century practice of buying your constituency. Fostermco has also given £191,766 in cash donations to central Labour Party funds in the last couple of years, as well as £4,000 to Enfield North and £1,000 to Finchley CLPs.

Who’s winning the Facebook war in Cornwall?

We’re told that the social media comprise an increasingly important battleground in the run up to the general election. The Westminster parties certainly appear to have taken this on board, all their candidates in Cornwall having Facebook pages. Strangely, the challenger parties seem less convinced.

Their candidates may blog regularly, but MK in particular seems reluctant to use Facebook, with only Stephen Richardson at Truro/Falmouth dipping his toe in the water. Ukip’s Graham Calderwood (St Ives), Bradley Monk in South East Cornwall and David Mathews at St Austell have no Facebook pages. Both Monk and Mathews have websites though and the young Monk is active on twitter. For the Greens, Steve Slade at St Austell/Newquay and Karen Westbrook (and before her Sharron Kelsey) at Truro/Falmouth are also not using Facebook to promote their electoral chances. Or at least no pages that I can find.

Looking at Facebook use by party, it seems that on average Greens (those that bother), Labour and Tory candidates make most use of the medium. Ukip and Lib Dem candidates are less keen, with a couple of exceptions (Andrew George at St Ives and Ukip’s Julie Lingard in North Cornwall). In fact, North Cornwall is the constituency where the social media scrap on Facebook is most vigorous, although even here Dan Rogerson is remaining aloof, or hiding, not using his Facebook page which steadily gathers dust. (Neither does his neighbour Steve Gilbert at St Austell, while his other Lib Dem neighbour Phil Hutty in South East Cornwall isn’t seen often on Facebook either).

So whose page is the most liked? Here’s the top ten as of 16th March.

Facebook Likes March 16th

1. Andrew George (LD, St Ives)	2,577
2. Sheryll Murray (Con, South East)	2,037
3. Michael Foster (Lab, Camborne)	1,454
4. George Eustice (Con, Camborne)	1,204
5. Steve Double (Con, St Austell)	949
6. Scott Mann (Con, North)	714
7. Amanda Pennington (GP, North)	544
8. Julia Goldsworthy (Con, Camborne)	434
=9. Bob Smith (Ukip, Camborne)	395
=9. John Hyslop (Ukip, Truro)	395

It may be no coincidence that Sheryll Murray and Michael Foster, one of whom viciously attacked the other with a mobile phone, are up at the top. But how are they getting their likes? The Tories at least have been discovered paying out vast sums of money amounting to over £100,000 a month linked to their Facebook activity. This presumably includes paying for likes.

Whose likes are growing at the fastest rate? Andrew George’s leapt up from 800 to over 2,500 in a week, which looks a bit odd. His Office of Andrew George MP Facebook page (catchy title) was amalgamated with his other page, but does that really explain all the growth? Not surprisingly, challenger parties, starting from a lower base, are seeing the biggest hike in their likes.

Change in Likes, 25th Feb-16th March

1. Andrew George (LD, St Ives)	+1,923
2. John Hyslop (Ukip, Truro)	+178
3. Bob Smith (Ukip, Camborne)	+116
4. Tim Andrewes (St Ives Greens)	+96
5. Amanda Pennington (GP, North)	+55

A more useful measure than likes, which can come from people in Sydney and San Francisco as easily as Saltash or Sennen, is the activity on Facebook and the engagement (how many are responding, liking, commenting or sharing posts). When it comes to activity, the hyper-active Murray and Foster are up there. But they’re both eclipsed by the most recently declared candidate, Labour’s John Whitby in North Cornwall. He’s frantically trying to track down Labour supporters in the north, who’ve been in hiding since the 1940s. Tough task.

Number of posts in week ending March 16th

1. John Whitby (Lab, North)	26
2. Sheryll Murray (Con, South East)	22
3. Michael Foster (Lab, Camborne)	20
4. St Ives Greens	19
5. Steve Double (Con, St Austell)	16

Meanwhile, turning to engagement per post the top achievers are as follows.

Engagement per post, 25th Feb – 16th March

1. Julia Goldsworthy (LD, Camborne)	103
2. Michael Foster (Lab, Camborne)	47
3. Simon Rix (LD, Truro)	23
4. Steve Double (Con, St Austell)	13
5. Sheryll Murray (Con, South East)	13

Julia Goldsworthy’s top post in the week ending the 16th was about a reduction in local First bus fares, which she claims was a result of a Lib Dem campaign. This campaign might have been unnecessary had not the evil Government slashed bus subsidies by 23%. Like the other Lib Dem candidates Julia seems to be suffering from a worrying memory lapse when it comes to recalling that the Coalition Government actually includes her own party. Michael Foster’s top posts were about privatisation plans for NHS services, which Labour would never do. Any more that is. As there were very similar privatisation plans back in 2006, when the government was of course ‘run’ by Labour.

Simon Rix at Truro was also expressing his ‘grave concern’ over the future of healthcare as a result of Tory and, errrr, Lib Dem policies of the past five years. The loquacious Steve Double’s top post told us all about pasty-making in St Dennis and his first job as a butcher. This ought to be good training for all those cuts his party is planning when the post-election butchering of public services resumes. Finally, Sheryll Murray’s top post was about Commonwealth Day, which she thinks is a jolly good thing despite the rest of us not noticing it. But nothing to do with Europe so it must be good.

Political party donations in Cornwall: all is revealed

The media recently reported the reliance of the Tory Party on hedge funds, the financial sector and loot from the super-rich, while Labour continues to be dependent on the big trade unions. Both parties attracted large donations in the final quarter of 2014 and the run-up to the election. Their £8 million each in that quarter compared with a surprisingly high £3 million for the Lib Dems, £1.5 million for Ukip, just £250,000 for the Greens and a pitiful £5,000 for the SNP.

But, as the Westminster parties set about trying to buy the electorate over the next couple of months, how much money is being given directly to the local parties in Cornwall? All donations to a constituency party above £1,500 have to be reported to the Electoral Commission. The following analysis is based on details of donations provided on the Commission’s website for 2014 and the first few weeks of 2015.

Here’s the overall picture by party and constituency.

Donations of £1,500+ Jan 2014-Feb 2015 (£000s)

	Camborne/ Redruth	North Cornwall	South East Cornwall	St Austell/ Newquay	St Ives	Truro/ Falmouth	Total
Conservatives	2.0	none	15.0	19.2	5.0	none	41.2
Lib Dems	16.1	none	none	12.5	7.0	5.0	40.6
Labour	119.0	none	none	none	none	4.1	123.1
Greens/MK/Ukip	none	none	none	none	none	none	none

As the Greens and MK rely on crowdfunding we can see why the three Westminster parties don’t need to bother with such small stuff. Nonetheless, there are interesting differences between the three neo-liberal, centr[al]ist parties. For instance, 60% of Tory donations came from outside Cornwall. The United and Cecil Club gave £5,000 to Steve Double’s campaign in St Austell and Newquay and another £5,000 to Derek Thomas at St Ives.

This organisation is described as ‘low profile’ and is registered at a stables in Iver, Bucks run by a former tobacco lobbyist. It’s also the bunch that organised a recent Tory fundraising bash in Knightsbridge, estimated to have raised at least £100,000 from the assorted super-rich who attended. Basically, it’s a conduit for channelling cash to Tory marginals, in the process providing some anonymity for its donors.

Steve Double has also been boosted by another £4,187 from the Tandridge Club, another shadowy organisation based in Surrey and one with presumably the same function as the United and Cecil Club. The rest of the useful Tory war chest of £19,200 at St Austell and Newquay came from local Tories at Fowey, which is increasingly resembling Surrey on Sea.

While Sarah Newton at Truro and Falmouth and Scott Mann at North Cornwall received no large constituency donations last year, George Eustice at Camborne and Redruth was grateful for £2,000 from FalFish, of Cardrew Industrial Estate, Redruth. Meanwhile, over in in South East Cornwall Sheryll Murray was also funded directly by business. In her case, she received £5,000 from the Offshore Group of Newcastle (north of Bude), a firm involved in offshore oil and gas and renewable energy. The rest of her donations came from the Torpoint Unionist Club with individuals John Cotton and Timothy Rice chipping in £2,500 each. Can this be the lyricist Tim Rice, Cornwall’s richest ‘resident’, with an estimated wealth of £150 million and a house on the Lizard?

What about the other wing of the coalition Government, the Lib Dems? Only Andrew George at St Ives has received a donation direct from business. He got £2,000 from the Chadwick brothers of Falmouth, who own the fashion firm Seasalt. There was another donation to his campaign in the shape of £5,000 in the name of Joanna Crocker.

Other Lib Dem candidates, while funded overall almost as well as the Tories, seem to be dependent on individuals rather than businesses or organisations. Or at least that’s the impression of the database. Julia Goldsworthy at Camborne and Redruth was the focus of the highest amount last year, with John Howson, Ian Wright, Neil Sherlock, Ray Hancock and Leigh Ibbotson listed as her donors. Leigh Ibbotson, presumably the property developer and investor and holiday park owner of that name based at Truro, also gave £5,000 to Simon Rix’s campaign in Truro and Falmouth. But Dan Rogerson and Phil Hutty in the east received no donations in this period.

Curiously, in St Austell and Newquay, in order to counter the challenge from the Tory funders from south east England, Steve Gilbert seems to be digging into his own pocket to the tune of £3,600. This was boosted by £8,873 (with some in kind as ‘premises’) donated in the name of Joanna Kenny, Lib Dem Cornwall Councillor for Newquay Pentire. This (and other) donations could possibly originate in local Lib Dem organisations. It’s unclear from the records.

But the really big money locally seems to be flowing to the Labour Party. Or more precisely one Labour candidate – Michael Foster at Camborne and Redruth. His campaign has benefited from £119,120 of donations over the past year, £42,727 to pay for ‘administrative services’ and £76, 392 described as ‘other’, maybe including payment for the rather well-produced newspapers which have been regularly falling onto local doormats over the past few months.

This money all comes from Fostermco Ltd, whose sole director is – you’ve guessed it – media entrepreneur and millionaire Michael Foster. The company appeared to have had a paid up capital of ten pence in June 2014. The other recorded donation for a Labour candidate in this period was in Truro and Falmouth, where £4,100 was given by the Red Rose Club of Truro and Neil Morson. But at present Labour has no candidate in this constituency. Perhaps they should hand over the cash to neighbouring Camborne and Redruth and really try to buy that constituency.

Update
Leigh Ibbotson is chair and fundraiser for Truro/Falmouth Lib Dems.
Ray Hancock is Lib Dem party secretray for Camborne, Redruth & Hayle

The Euro election: who were the big spenders?

The Electoral Commission has released campaign expenditure details for the Euro-election earlier this year. How effective was party spending? Who got the biggest bang for their bucks? Here’s a table of spending and votes won.

	Spending (£s)	Votes	Votes per £ spent
Labour	1,027,339	4,020,646	3.91
Greens	534,249	1,255,573	2.35
Ukip	2,956,737	4,376,635	1.48
SNP	267,372	389,503	1.46
Conservatives	2,980,815	3,792,559	1.27
Liberal Democrats	1,580,575	1,087,633	0.69

In terms of spending efficiency Labour were the clear winners and will be hoping that they get three times as many votes for every £1 spent when next May comes around. The Greens were the second most efficient spenders.

For comparison, in 2009 MK spent £13,886 on the euro election of that year and got 14,922 votes in return. That’s 1.04 votes per £1 spent, a lower return than all the bigger parties in 2014 apart from the Lib Dems. Although it’s £1.56 a vote if we allow for the loss of the £5,000 deposit, unfairly taken from MK because it didn’t reach the quota for the whole constituency.