David Abrahams: Labour’s friend in the north

Posted on Tuesday 27 November, 2007
Filed Under New Labour

 


The David Abrahams affair marks the third instance in less than 15 years that the Labour has purposely devised a new mechanism for keeping the names of political donors out of the public prints. Anyone would think they had something to hide.

The first attempt was the blind trust system of the early 1990s. These were funding conduits that allowed people to give to politicians via independent trustees, so that in theory the politicians did not know who their backers were. As such gifts were not deemed donations to the Labour Party itself, there was no requirement for public disclosure.

The trouble is, the trusts were not so much blind as partially sighted. The politicians inevitably found out who was writing the cheques. And two of the four known donors to Tony Blair’s blind trust were given peerages. Such was the uproar, use of blind trusts was made illegal in 2000.

But New Labour fundraiser Lord Levy was determined to keep bungs and backhanders on the QT. Hence try number two, an elaborate system of non-declarable loans that had no logical purpose beyond straightforward obfuscation. Yet again, the high correlation between loans and honours nominations forced the Electoral Commission to close the loophole.

Take three – revealed over the weekend – came in the use of individuals to channel donations on behalf of Mr Abrahams. The scandal is currently unfolding.

But what is already clear is that every time the rules change to prevent abuse, Labour simply develops ever more ingenious means of circumventing them. If the letter of the law has been observed, the spirit hasn’t.

Mr Abrahams, it seems, supported at least two runners in Labour’s recent deputy leadership contest. Backing a second horse at longer odds in the same race as a first choice – a practice known in punter parlance as ‘having a saver on’ – is generally motivated by a desire to make sure you back the eventual winner.

Of course everybody should have the right to put their hands in their pockets for causes and politicians they support. I myself have made three-figure donations to the campaign funds of Labour parliamentary candidates.

But I have done so either because they have been personal friends of mine, or because I admire their politics. I certainly have never seen the slightest need for either secrecy or subterfuge; why would anyone else?


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Comments

8 Responses to “David Abrahams: Labour’s friend in the north”

  1. Eddie Truman
    on November 27th, 2007 at 20:26

    Oh jeez, Dave has made “three-figure donations to the campaign funds of Labour parliamentary candidates”.

    I hope all his mates give him a hard time about how much drink he could have got in at the bar for all the good it did.

  2. resistor
    on November 28th, 2007 at 22:37

    Isn’t hte common thread through all of this the ‘Labour Friends of Israel’

    http://www.spinwatch.org/content/view/97/8/

    which bought back the Labour Party to the side of Isreal after it began to take the side of the Palestinians in the 80s.

    From

    http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/16151/edition_id/315/format/html/displaystory.html

    The rise of Tony Blair to the head of the Labor Party changed the equation yet again.

    “Blair has attacked the anti-Israelism that had existed in the Labor Party,” said Jon Mendelsohn, of the Labor Friends of Israel lobby group.

    “Old Labor was cowboys-and-Indians politics, picking underdogs” to support, Mendelsohn said, referring to the time before Blair rebranded his party as “New Labor” in the 1990s.

    “The milieu has changed. Zionism is pervasive in New Labor. It is automatic that Blair will come to Labor Friends of Israel meetings,” Mendelsohn said.

  3. Jock McTrousers
    on November 28th, 2007 at 23:07

    Here’s some great stuff on NewLab and Israel from Lobster. It’s not copyright as long as you acknowledge the source.

    FROM LOBSTER 43:

    In January 1994, three months before John Smith’s death, the then shadow Home Secretary Tony Blair, with wife Cherie Booth, went on a trip to Israel at the Israeli government’s expense – a trip, incidentally, neither the Sopel nor Rentoul biographies of Blair mentioned. (1) Blair had always been sympathetic to Israel, had shared chambers with Board of Deputies of British Jews President Eldred Tabachnik, (2) and had joined the Labour Friends of Israel on becoming an MP.

    Two months after returning from Israel, Tony Blair was introduced to Michael Levy at a dinner party by Gideon Meir, the number two in the Israeli embassy in London. (3) Levy was a retired businessman who had made his money creating and then selling a successful record company and had become a major fund-raiser for Jewish charities. Levy was ‘dazzled by Blair’s drive and religious commitment’ and the two men became friends. (4) A month later the leader of the Labour Party, John Smith, died, and Blair won the leadership election contest with Gordon Brown – in some accounts with financial assistance from Levy. (5) All accounts are agreed that Michael Levy then set about raising money – the figure of £7 million is widely quoted – for the personal use of his new ‘friend’, Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party. The big early contributors to the ‘blind trust’ which funded Blair’s office were:

    ‘….a group of businessmen involved in Jewish charities whose decisions to give to Labour have been crucially influenced by the party’s strong pro-Israeli stance under both Tony Blair and his predecessor John Smith……Levy brought the world of North London Jewish business into the Labour Party…some of the names whom Levy persuaded to donate include Sir Emmanuel Kaye of Kaye Enterprises, Sir Trevor Chinn of Lex Garages, Maurice Hatter of IMO Precision Control and David Goldman of the Sage software group…….it is clear, however, that for this group Blair’s (and Smith’s before him) strong support for Israel is an important factor, especially with those such as Kaye, Chinn and Levy himself, who raise large sums for Israeli causes. Nick Cosgrave, director of Labour Friends of Israel, says Blair “brought back Labour Friends of Israel into the Labour Party, in a sense …….before the majority of supporters of Labour Friends felt uncomfortable with the Labour Party.’ (6)

    By 1994 it was clear that, barring a miracle, the Tories would lose the next General Election; Tony Blair was widely recognised as one of Labour’s coming men; and there had already been speculation in the media – notably in The Sunday Times – that he would succeed John Smith as Labour leader. It is hard to read this account of the events from Blair’s trip to Israel to the funding of his private office and not conclude that the Israeli government had spotted Blair as a very pro-Israeli politician and possible leader of the Labour Party and steered him towards the leading Jewish fund-raiser in London. (7)

    As leader of the party, with the Levy-raised money in his ‘blind trust’, Blair achieved financial independence from the trade unions and the Labour Party. Blair hated the Labour Party and viewed it as his enemy. (8) With the Levy money Blair was able to begin expanding his private office and he hired Alastair Campbell, former Political Editor at the Daily Mirror as his press officer in September 1994 and diplomat Jonathan Powell as his chief of staff in January 1995. The Labour Party now had a leader over whom it had no control at all.

    FROM LOBSTER 44:

    In Lobster 43, p. 9, I referred to Tony Blair’s membership of the Labour Friends of Israel. That body was the subject of ‘Byers plots a comeback with pro-Israel pressure group’ by The Times’, Political Editor, David Cracknell, which included the following:

    ‘Stephen Byers is bidding to make an early political comeback just two months after quitting the government. The former transport secretary is the front runner to take over the chairmanship of the influential Labour Friends of Israel pressure group. The body is one of the most prestigious groupings in the party and is seen as a stepping stone to ministerial ranks for Labour MPs. Several recent incumbents have been backbenchers who have gone on to be appointed to government…..Tony Blair consults members of the Friends of Israel over Middle East policy and Byers would have the opportunity to regain access to Downing Street on a vital area of policy without attracting unwelcome headlines.’ (1)

    In ‘Tony Blair, New Labour trumpet boy!’, Diane Langfordof the Palestine Solidarity Committee, added the following information on LFI. (2)

    The Director of Labour Friends of Israel is David Mercer, former research assistant and electoral agent for Gwyneth Dunwoody, ‘life president’ of LFI.

    The parliamentary register of Members’ interests shows that recent visitors who have had flights and accommodation paid by Labour Friends of Israel include Ivor Caplin, Paul Clark, Oona King, Ashok Kumar, Ivan Lewis, Anne McGuire, Rosemary McKenna, Margaret Moran, former LFI Chair Jim Murphy, Sandra Osborne, Gareth Thomas, Frank Roy, Joan Ryan, Angela Smith, Graham Stringer, Rudi Vis, David Watts, Gillian Merron, Peter Pike, Lorna Fitzsimons, Louise Ellman, Caroline Flint, Linda Perham, Douglas Alexander, Fabian Hamilton, Anthony Colman, LFI former Chair Stephen Twigg, LFI Vice Chair Mike Gapes, and Dan Norris.

    Ivan Lewis, in the list above, was PPS to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Stephen Byers MP. (3)

    Since 1997 57 Labour MPs have visited Israel, mostly with the Labour Friends of Israel.

    There have been 34 official trade missions to Israel from the UK since 1997. The BRITECH agreement signed by Trade Secretary Stephen Byers means there is now a £15.5 million joint fund to encourage co-operation between British and Israeli hi-tech industries in research and development for their own benefit.

    In the event the puff for Byers in The Times came to naught. The new chair of Labour Friends of Israel is the MP James Purple.

  4. tim
    on November 28th, 2007 at 23:21

    Oh dear Jock.

    Quoting Idrees.

    Not wise.

    best quote someone who doesn’t fake their sources.

  5. Jock McTrousers
    on November 29th, 2007 at 02:18

    Idrees? Sorry, that went over my head. Are you sure you’re referring to my post ( which is all Robin Ramsay’s work – I left out the notes and sources to save space)?

  6. tim
    on November 29th, 2007 at 07:33

    Spinwatch – Idrees

    read please

  7. Letters From A Tory
    on November 29th, 2007 at 09:36

    I think part of this has come from a slow but tangible movement away from trade unions towards private funding sources. Blair was obviously very keen to get financial backing from individuals and businesses and I suspect Labour are now paying the price – literally.

  8. Jock McTrousers
    on November 29th, 2007 at 12:30

    Tim – sorry, that’s still too cryptic for me. Now I know who Idrees is, but I don’t see the connection with Robin Ramsay’s stuff from Lobster above.