This is why:
http://makingitontheoutside.com/2015/02/20/making-the-case-for-independents/
Daily Archives: 21 Feb 2015
Tory Balls
We have written extensively about this year’s Tory Fundraising Ball (where Hugo Swire, Foreign Office Minister, made a tasteless joke about Greece)but pause awhile and recall last year’s event – which cost only £12,000 per head compared to £15,000 this year (we thought the cost of living (it up) was supposed to be going down).
Last year Hugo Swire was also auctioneer and a jar of his wife’s honey went for £15,000 – 9,000 times its actual cost. Wonga numbers.
Here for your delectation is a report of the ball from the Socialist Workers Party:
Tory ministers declined to say who they were dining with at a fancy nosh-up last week. The party refused to release the guest list for the event at the private Hurlingham members’ club in Fulham, west London.
But the gleaming Rolls-Royces and Jaguars streaming through the gates told their own story.
Tory ministers attending including Michael Gove, Nicky Morgan, Matthew Hancock and David Gauke. The dress code was “glamorous” but invitees were instructed to avoid black tie. A pot of honey made by the wife of foreign office minister Hugo Swire, the evening’s auctioneer, went for £15,000—almost 9,000 times the recommended retail price.
We know a little more about last year’s event.
Almost 450 attendees at last summer’s glittering fundraising dinner had a combined wealth of more than £11 billion. They sat at tables costing up to £12,000 each.
It is not known how much was raised from last year’s event. But Electoral Commission figures show that since the ball those present have donated £5 million to the Conservatives. Of this, £1.1 million was registered in the week after the event. Table sales raised at least £250,000. There were some cheap seats available for a mere £400.
The guest list last year saw six billionaires and 15 people with a personal wealth above £100 million. The main sponsor was Shore Capital, an investment bank led by Howard Shore.
Shore has donated £450,000 to the Tories. He booked three “premier tables” and on one hosted David and Samantha Cameron.
The table also included investor Nicolas Berggruen, Slovenian tycoon Darko Horvat and property magnate Sir John Ritblat.
London mayor Boris Johnson shared a table with Andrei Borodin, an exiled Russian banker. Borodin is wanted in Russia on charges of “aggravated swindling” over an alleged £220million bank fraud.
East Devon Watch 