Come Dine with the Camerons

"For £250,000 it's a 3-course dinner with champagne!"

Can't you just see it. A new reality show for Channel 4. A bevvy of desperados, each with at least a quarter of a million to spare, cook up a reason to dine with Dave and SamCam in the Downing Street flat. I thought David Cameron was going to put a stop to all this nonsense. I must have been either deluded or thinking of someone else at the time. It's all a tragedy for the Conservative Party.

David Cameron appears to have nothing to conserve in British politics. No traditions worth keeping. He's so keen on presentation (no doubt as the heir to Blair) that all else goes hang. Now we hear that the Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas offered access to the prime minister and chancellor for £250,000, so the Sunday Times has alleged. I saw Cruddas just now on the BBC News sounding very much like a sleaze merchant on the loose. Did it ever cross his mind that telling would-be donors they could influence policy was a transparent action? Probably not. Transparency is still an opaque concept to these guys.

I can now see why traditional Tories have had enough and are jumping ship to UKIP. They are fed up with all the current nonsensical political thought. Abolish the House of Lords but don't say what's coming in its place. Have a "consultation period" on "gay marriage" but tell the consulted they will have it regardless. Have a "consultation period" on unit pricing for alcohol but tell the consulted they will have a minimum charge regardless. Be ham-fisted over taxing the pensioners and then say they will be better off. Then there's the 45p tax business. And the rich paying tax? Apparently the millionaire cabinet members are not affected.

Are we all to be taken as fools? Government borrowing is still sky-rocketing. John Redwood is asking some pertinent questions. I bet he gets impertinent answers.

I can't understand why politicians can be so stupid. On the business of Cruddas and his donation finding efforts, the Conservatives issued a statement. "No donation was ever accepted or even formally considered by the Conservative Party. All donations to the Conservative Party have to comply with requirements of electoral law, and these are strictly enforced by our compliance department." Maybe, but dinner with the Camerons does not come under electoral law. Common sense would say it may look iffy, but that's a different matter.

I thought of horses for courses and David Cameron seems to be picking the wrong horses, both literally and otherwise. This Cruddas episode needs some explaining and it will be interesting to know what David Cameron will say about it and whether Cruddas will be there Monday morning.

Posted in: Conservative Party,David Cameron,Peter Cruddas,political corruption,political donations