TPA - The Campaign for a Tory Government

I've just got back from a fundraising dinner for Lewisham East Constituency Labour Party.

Bridget Prentice is standing down so I thought I'd go along, help raise some money for the local party and support our new candidate, the excellent Heidi Alexander.

But I've heard there's a great Guardian investigation into the shadowy TaxPayers' Alliance - the pressure group with remarkably close links to the Tory Party, Conservative donors and the Midlands Industrial Council.

Not only are their senior officials former Tory Party politicos but senior Conservatives have addressed their meetings, including party chairman Eric Pickles, shadow defence secretary Liam Fox and anti NHS eurosceptic Daniel Hannan.

And to top it off, one of their directors doesn't even pay tax in the UK - he's been living in France since 1973!

The TaxPayers' Alliance love to brag about how much coverage they get. They even boast on their website about appearing three times on the same edition of Newsnight last July.

Now, at Go Fourth, we're quite open about our objective. We're the campaign for a Labour Fourth Term.

It's now crystal clear that the TaxPayers' Alliance (32,000 supporters, therefore representing 0.04% of all taxpayers' in the UK) are actually the Campaign for a Conservative First Term.

That's why I've decided to write to the BBC's Director of News to express my concern and get her thoughts on how they intend to cover the TaxPayers' Alliance in the future.

Here's the letter below. I'll let you know how I get on.

Helen Boaden,
Director of News,
BBC News,
BBC Television Centre,
Wood Lane,
London,
W12 7RJ

October 10 2009

Dear Ms Boaden,

I’m writing to express my concern over revelations in today’s Guardian that the so-called TaxPayers’ Alliance appears to be nothing but a front for the Conservative Party.

I’ve noticed over the last few years that the TPA, which refuses to publish a full list of donors yet purports to be ”the guardian of taxpayers' money, the voice of taxpayers in the media and their representative at Westminster," has received increasing airtime on the BBC.

So far in October – according to the TPA’s own website – its spokespeople have appeared on Newsnight (twice), BBC Ten O Clock News, BBC 5 Live (twice) BBC North West Tonight, BBC 3 Counties and BBC Radio Leeds.

In fact on one edition of Newsnight on July 6, three separate spokespeople from the TaxPayers’ Alliance were interviewed and broadcast on the same show. TPA Campaign Manager Susie Squire was interviewed in a report on the size of the quango state, TPA Campaign Director Mark Wallace debated quangos with Jeremy Paxman and TPA Research Director proposed abolishing Regional Development Agencies on the Politics Pen Section.

The Guardian has discovered that not only are senior TPA officials, including its Chief Executive Matthew Elliott, former Conservative Party politicians, but one of its directors, Alexander Heath, a director, lives in a farmhouse in the Loire in France and has not paid British tax for more than 30 years.

But the most serious claims are that senior Tory Party donors are also funding the TPA. According to the Guardian, they include Sir Anthony Bamford, the owner of the JCB digger company, and Tony Gallagher, the owner of Gallagher Estates, both Conservative donors, who with 32 other businessmen have donated about £80,000 to the TaxPayers' Alliance through the Midlands Industrial Council.

The Tory links to the TPA's links don’t stop with donations. At their monthly meetings, speakers have included Eric Pickles, the Conservative party chairman, Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, and Daniel Hannan, the Tory Eurosceptic MEP who we exposed as claiming the NHS was "a 60-year mistake."

We highlighted Mr Hannan’s comments as part of our Go Fourth Campaign for a Labour Fourth Term. People know what we stand for – a Labour Fourth Term. It would now appear that The TaxPayers’ Alliance is clearly the Campaign for a Conservative First Term.

The TaxPayers' Alliance will soon launch a campaign called "Big Brother Watch" to, and I quote, "fight injustice and protect personal liberties." According to the Guardian it will be led by David Cameron's former Chief of Staff Alex Deane.

I would therefore be keen to hear your views on the Guardian’s revelations and whether the TaxPayers’ Alliance should now be referred to on air as “a group with close links to the Conservative Party” or some similar on-air clarification.

Yours,

John Prescott