Ashcroft cash targets key marginals
Updated on 02 February 2010
Labour plans to turn Lord Ashcroft's donations to the Conservative party into an election issue, claiming the money is used to target marginal seats. Cathy Newman reports.
A Conservative election candidate who is bankrolled by Lord Ashcroft's target seats fund has lifted the lid on the scale of her campaign effort, disclosing that she is delivering 40,000 leaflets a month in a bid to unseat Labour.
In an interview with Channel 4 News, Mary Macleod, who is standing in the marginal seat of Brentford & Isleworth, said she spends up to £2,000 on a 40,000 print-run of glossy election leaflets. But she insisted she has "very little contact" with the controversial Conservative peer who runs the fund that benefits around 80 Tory candidates.
"We've had very little contact with Lord Ashcroft. The main contact we've had with him is when we've held a targets eats conference and he has been there and speaking during that conference...
"He basically tells us to work hard, which is a good message because the campaign has been a long one. It was really important just to keep focused on what we're trying to do and look at the things and learn from each other," she said.
A management consultant by trade, Ms Macleod runs her campaign to become an MP like she runs her business. She sets monthly targets for the number of leaflets delivered, the number of houses canvassed and the number of activists trudging the streets of the west London constituency she hopes to win.
She presented a business plan to secure the cash from Conservative headquarters, and she delivers monthly progress reports on how she's doing in her bid to overturn Labour's majority of nearly 4,500.
Since the last election Lord Ashcroft's companies and his wife have donated £4.8m to the Conservatives. The Tories won't say how much of that has been channelled to marginal seats like Brentford.
The Tory peer's opponents say the power he wields is undemocratic because he won't confirm if he pays tax in Britain. And despite assurances that he would take up residence in the UK, when he last made a public declaration about where he lived he said his main home was in Belize.
This week the information commissioner ruled the public had a right to know about his tax status.
Andrew Dakers, the Liberal Democrat candidate in Brentford, told us: "There are two issues here. One is the lack of clarity over whether he is non-domiciled or not.
"And the other is of course the size of the donations. Inevitably when you have a few people making such significant donations, there is a risk of undue influence."
Labour too has complained about the Tories' financial strength, but in Brentford the party appears to be hampered by a perception of political weakness.
Our requests to interview the sitting MP Ann Keen were declined. She's kept out of the limelight after allegations about her expenses claims. Activists seem demoralised, and the party's membership here is just 1000 - half what it was in 1997.
Brentford Labour Councillor Matt Harmer insisted Mrs Keen was an "excellent hard-working MP" who was "facing somebody who's come in at the last minute with a huge sum of money behind them and no track record to deliver on".
Labour is intent on turning Lord Ashcroft's donations into an election issue. The Commons last night backed amendments to the constitutional reform bill to ensure MPs and peers pay taxes on their worldwide income.
But a senior source in the Lords said it was highly unlikely the legislation would reach the statute book before the election.
