This is an extract from an essay published on Matt Goodwin’s Substack on 14th September.
Something truly extraordinary just happened in British politics. I’m not talking about Reform UK attracting £72 million from two donors in what is an unprecedented development. No. I’m talking about what happened next.
Because within hours of the two donations to Reform UK from the billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, Britain’s establishment - the same establishment that’s been trying to derail Reform throughout the summer - had a meltdown.
Astonishingly, the Labour government sent Angela Rayner around television studios on Sunday morning to not only declare that people “cannot buy their way into democracy”, but also to warn that the government might even try to block one or both of the donations to Reform by tweaking legislation that could work retrospectively.
What does this mean? It means that the Labour government and its allies in the House of Commons might now potentially pass or amend legislation that requires money that has been lawfully donated under today’s rules to be returned.
In other words, this is the government of the day, the Labour government, openly talking about changing the rules and rigging the system so that it can retrospectively deprive financial support from its main rival. Along the way, the very same people who were perfectly happy to try and postpone elections are also lecturing the country about the need to “protect democracy” and “maintain integrity” in politics. This is banana republic stuff. And millions of people will immediately see the hypocrisy.
Let’s start with a little history, which more than a few people in Westminster appear to have forgotten. For decades now, Labour and the Tories completely dominated the political system by raising enormous sums of money.
Just look at data from the Electoral Commission. From 2021 until immediately before Reform received its two record-breaking donations, the Tories accepted roughly £150 million in reportable donations, while Labour accepted around £128 million.
Reform? Nowhere near that. Only about £40 million.
Now take an even longer-term view. Ever since the Electoral Commission began recording donations properly in this country, in 2001, the two established parties between them have received more than £1 billion in reportable donations and public funding - roughly £580 million for the Tories and £530 million for Labour.
Of the top 20 individual donors in British politics since 2001, no less than 16 backed the two old parties, with 10 backing Labour and six backing the Tories.
They include Unite, the trade union, giving Labour £60 million (!), Unison giving Labour £47 million, GMB giving Labour £41 million, Lord Sainsbury giving Labour £32 million, and Phoenix Partnership giving the Tories £15 million. Only one of the top 20 donors in British politics, until the last few days, supported Reform UK.
Where were the complaints about “big money in British politics” then? Where was the moral outrage about how the system was being distorted by two enormous machines, Labour and Tory, that could vastly outspend and crush any challenger? There was none. There was only silence.
Yesterday, Kemi Badenoch declared that while you can “buy staff and advertising … you can’t buy judgement or integrity”. This from the same Tory party that for much of the last 20 years handed out peerages and other honours to donors as though it was handing out confetti at a wedding, using the system to reward its own backers.
Only a few years ago, it was revealed that 15 of the last 16 Tory party treasurers who had given at least £3 million to the Tory party were given a seat in the House of Lords. Another investigation found that of the Tory party’s 20 biggest donors since 2010, who donated more than £1.5 million, more than half of them (55%) received an honour or title. As a former Tory chairman told one newspaper:
“The truth is the entire political establishment knows this happens and they do nothing about it … The most telling line is, once you pay your £3 million, you get your peerage.”
And many other Tory donors, strangely, have gone on to win enormous contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds. I don’t know about you but if Kemi Badenoch is reading this newsletter then I’d suggest she spend less time lecturing others about judgement and more time apologising for her own party’s appalling record.
Subscribe to Matt Goodwin’s Substack here.
Something truly extraordinary just happened in British politics. I’m not talking about Reform UK attracting £72 million from two donors in what is an unprecedented development. No. I’m talking about what happened next.
Because within hours of the two donations to Reform UK from the billionaires Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne, Britain’s establishment - the same establishment that’s been trying to derail Reform throughout the summer - had a meltdown.
Astonishingly, the Labour government sent Angela Rayner around television studios on Sunday morning to not only declare that people “cannot buy their way into democracy”, but also to warn that the government might even try to block one or both of the donations to Reform by tweaking legislation that could work retrospectively.
What does this mean? It means that the Labour government and its allies in the House of Commons might now potentially pass or amend legislation that requires money that has been lawfully donated under today’s rules to be returned.
In other words, this is the government of the day, the Labour government, openly talking about changing the rules and rigging the system so that it can retrospectively deprive financial support from its main rival. Along the way, the very same people who were perfectly happy to try and postpone elections are also lecturing the country about the need to “protect democracy” and “maintain integrity” in politics. This is banana republic stuff. And millions of people will immediately see the hypocrisy.
Let’s start with a little history, which more than a few people in Westminster appear to have forgotten. For decades now, Labour and the Tories completely dominated the political system by raising enormous sums of money.
Just look at data from the Electoral Commission. From 2021 until immediately before Reform received its two record-breaking donations, the Tories accepted roughly £150 million in reportable donations, while Labour accepted around £128 million.
Reform? Nowhere near that. Only about £40 million.
Now take an even longer-term view. Ever since the Electoral Commission began recording donations properly in this country, in 2001, the two established parties between them have received more than £1 billion in reportable donations and public funding - roughly £580 million for the Tories and £530 million for Labour.
Of the top 20 individual donors in British politics since 2001, no less than 16 backed the two old parties, with 10 backing Labour and six backing the Tories.
They include Unite, the trade union, giving Labour £60 million (!), Unison giving Labour £47 million, GMB giving Labour £41 million, Lord Sainsbury giving Labour £32 million, and Phoenix Partnership giving the Tories £15 million. Only one of the top 20 donors in British politics, until the last few days, supported Reform UK.
Where were the complaints about “big money in British politics” then? Where was the moral outrage about how the system was being distorted by two enormous machines, Labour and Tory, that could vastly outspend and crush any challenger? There was none. There was only silence.
Yesterday, Kemi Badenoch declared that while you can “buy staff and advertising … you can’t buy judgement or integrity”. This from the same Tory party that for much of the last 20 years handed out peerages and other honours to donors as though it was handing out confetti at a wedding, using the system to reward its own backers.
Only a few years ago, it was revealed that 15 of the last 16 Tory party treasurers who had given at least £3 million to the Tory party were given a seat in the House of Lords. Another investigation found that of the Tory party’s 20 biggest donors since 2010, who donated more than £1.5 million, more than half of them (55%) received an honour or title. As a former Tory chairman told one newspaper:
“The truth is the entire political establishment knows this happens and they do nothing about it … The most telling line is, once you pay your £3 million, you get your peerage.”
And many other Tory donors, strangely, have gone on to win enormous contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds. I don’t know about you but if Kemi Badenoch is reading this newsletter then I’d suggest she spend less time lecturing others about judgement and more time apologising for her own party’s appalling record.
Subscribe to Matt Goodwin’s Substack here.
