Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
49 fatcats wined & dined.. while May’s JAMs get sweet FA
PM woos donors but ‘snubs poor’
THERESA May has been slammed for wining and dining 49 wealthy Tory donors as PM – while failing the ordinary people she promised to help.
The Conservative Party’s own figures show Mrs May has held a series of private dinners with fatcat donors.
Toffs attending similar dinners have given more than £2million to the Tories over the years.
They accounted for more than half the cash given to Mrs May during her leadership campaign.
But senior Labour figures criticised the PM for going against her own pledge that “the government I lead will be driven, not by the interests of the privileged few, but by yours”.
Last year Mrs May laid huge stress on the importance of helping so-called JAMs – millions of families who are “just about managing”.
But Labour MP Andrew Gwynne said: “Theresa May says she wants to represent everyone in the country but the reality could not be further from the truth. Far from building a country that works for everyone, the Tories are wining and dining the privileged few.
“They are failing Britain and have not changed one bit under Theresa May.”
The Leader’s Group – described as the “premier” tier of party supporters – is an exclusive club costing £50,000 a year to join. One controversial donor is the wife of Vladimir Putin’s former finance minister Lubov Chernukhin, who has given the
Tories £243,032 since 2001. Other high-profile members include businessman Sir Michael Hintze, one of the world’s richest men, who has donated £3,314,310 since 2001.
Property developers are also represented, including Leo Noé and Michael Slade, who has given £645,953 in the same period. Amjad Bseisu, chief exec of oil producer EnQuest, has given £113,986.
Donors attend private dinners with Mrs May and senior Cabinet ministers at No10 and other key places.
Government I lead will be driven not by interests of the privileged few, but by yours PM’S SPEECH JULY 2016
Threatening to withdraw security information to tackle terrorists and sending a task force to Spain? It’s an interesting Brexit negotiating tactic, I’ll give you that.
I thought the Tories wanted to take us back to the 1950s.
But threatening to launch an Armada against the Spanish will take us back to the 1590s.
Ex-Tory leader Michael Howard said we should be prepared to go to war over Gibraltar, comparing May to another female PM who took on a Spanish-speaking country!
To liken a dispute over Gibraltar with our democratic European partner Spain to the Falklands War against a military junta in Argentina was crass beyond belief.
In 1982 I spoke against sending the task force to the South Atlantic.
I felt we hadn’t exhausted the UN route and should have explored all options before putting our armed forces at risk. But Thatcher ignored us and 904 British and Argentine servicemen lost their lives and more than 2,400 were injured.
More Brits died in the Falklands than in the Iraq War.
The fact Howard can revel in this bloodshed to make a petty point about Brexit shows what a disastrous PM he’d have been.
Even worse, Theresa May refused to condemn him, yet was more than happy to attack the National Trust over a fake news story about Easter eggs!
But they only have themselves to blame. The Leave campaign, which Howard supported, said during the referendum, “the interests of the people of Gibraltar are best protected by a strong and independent UK”.
But there was no mention of Gibraltar in the Article 50 letter, despite Gib Chief Minister Fabian Picardo asking for its inclusion.
Instead, the Spanish persuaded the EU to include the Rock’s sovereignty as part of the Brexit negotiations. I know Gibraltar well. My brother-in-law is one of the millions of expats who have retired to Southern Spain. He regularly travels to Gib to stock up on home comforts from a British supermarket.
And Pauline and I fly in to the Rock when we go to visit him.
My former seaman colleague Joe Bossano ended up Chief Minister of Gibraltar. Joe, like all Gibraltarians, is proud of his British links.
When our Labour Government ordered a referendum to ask if Britain and Spain should share sovereignty, almost 99 per cent voted no!
However the last thing Gibraltarians want is conflict. Joe even banned vessels carrying nuclear weapons from Gibraltar’s harbour.
But the fact this dispute has been allowed to develop jingoistic and anti-Spanish overtones, shows how spiteful the Tories really are.
Spain’s Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis remarked wryly: “It looks like someone in the UK is losing their composure.” And he’s right.
If we’re going to be successful in getting the right Brexit deal we need to keep our European allies on side.
Failing to slap down Howard shows May is keener to court right wing papers than our EU partners.
Since Article 50 was invoked, we’ve threatened war with Spain, blackmailed European allies on security and raised the prospect of a United Ireland and Scotland leaving the UK – all in the first two weeks of a two-year process to leave!
Gibraltar must be included in any UK deal with the EU, but from my experience you build bridges not barriers if you want agreement.
May has displayed neither the diplomatic skill nor the foresight to get a good deal for Britain.
The real monkeys aren’t the ones baring their bums on the Rock. They’re in the Tory Party and No10.
I was never a fan of Ken Livingstone. I voted to kick him out of the party when he decided to run as an independent for Mayor of London. When Blair wanted to allow him back after being elected Mayor, I said I’d grudgingly vote for Ken but I’d have to hold my nose. Not any more. Livingstone’s refusal to apologise for upsetting the Jewish community over his bizarre Hitler rants is unforgiveable. Labour must kick him out for good. And this time, never let him back.