Breaking News: Politician doesn't keep his word!

The whole Lord Ashcroft story has been rumbling on for over a week now with little sign of going away, and is becoming quite an annoyance to Conservatives everywhere.  But why are the media so keen to keep this one rolling?


The concept of politicians saying one thing and doing another is nothing new, we have reached a stage in politics where it is almost expected that manifesto pledges will be routinely ignored, and that politicians (and candidates too) will happily say anything that will get them votes.  So why is it suddenly such big news?

You would have had to have been living under a rock for the last fortnight to have escaped that story that Conservative Peer Lord Ashcroft has come under scrutiny for claiming non-domicile status despite promising to become a UK citizen upon his appointment to the House of Lords in 2000.  The main accusation of Labour and the press is that as a result of this, he has not been paying tax on money earned outside the UK.

Their apparent problem stems from their assertion that Lord Ashcroft has then been using this money to fund the Conservative Party's campaigning activities.  Norwich North MP, Chloe Smith has been under fire by Labour, who have accused her of accepting funding from Lord Ashcroft in her 2009 by-election campaign.

Now please, correct me if I am wrong, but has Lord Ashcroft done anything illegal?  No.  Is he the only person ever to have done this?  No.  Is Lord Ashcroft "buying seats"?  I don't believe so.  As Sir James Goldsmith's "Referendum Party" proved in 1997, you simply cannot buy the British political system.  No amount of money in the world would ever "buy" the Conservatives seats like Glasgow North East and Washington.

The reason that organisations such as the BBC have been so keen to keep the Ashcroft story running whilst saying next to nothing about Labour's non-doms is clear; they have an awful lot to lose should the next government be Conservative.

There has already been talk of the Conservatives wanting to impose stricter controls on BBC spending; with mentions of either freezing or even reducing the license fee.  Perhaps the hardest hit of all media outlets would be The Guardian; standing to lose out on massive amounts of money under a Conservative government.

The Guardian currently takes in a large amount of its revenue through advertising public sector jobs.  The Conservatives have pledged to move these adverts online, which would create massive financial problems for the broadsheet.

The message is clear.  There are an awful lot of very wealthy people who stand to lose an awful lot of money (and quite rightly so) under a Conservative government; so it is in their best interests to ensure that they show the party in the worst possible light whilst deflecting attention away from Labour's own failings; even if it means biased and unfair reporting.