Beating Ashcroft at his own game

I have already commented on the donations by Betterworld Ltd to both the Lib Dems and Labour. It is unusual for a donor to assist more than one party and sometimes the rationale can be worrying (Bernie Ecclestone comes to mind). In this case however it seems there is a fair logic as reported in the Telegraph it is a philanthropic move by a progressively minded millionaire to counter the controversial funding by Michael Ashcroft. Ashcroft's donations have increasingly been made as 'Ground War' contributions to Tory constituency parties in Labour/Tory or Lib Dem/Tory marginals. These are not controlled by usual campaign expenditure as they fall outside election funding restrictions. They also, at least for a while, avoided the kind of scrutiny that would be attracted by a single large donation to Central Office. Ashcroft made most of his fortune out of financial services in Belize and recruitment businesses Carlisle and Corporate Services Group. Recruitment is of course an enormously worthy industry and it is a shame that its proceeds could be used for such base ends as propping up Tory constituency parties in obscure but idyllic corners of Wessex.