Conservative Party Links to Fat Cat Bankers

A. The results of the Conservative Party's links to the banks

- Conservative Chancellor George Osborne imposed a levy of just £2.5 billion;

- The Tories introduced laws that give a full tax exemption for British companies’ tax haven branches and let them get away with an 8% tax rate for profits diverted to havens through internal financing;

- Mr Osborne has slashed corporation tax rates from 28% to 24% meaning the impact on the finance houses will be minimal;

- The Government has said the banks will not have to pay the tax on the first £20 billion of liabilities;

- Mr Osborne has failed to take forward the recommendation of Sir David Walker that banks should be forced to disclose all pay packages above £1 million;

-  There has been no action to curb the bonus culture which is expected to see £7 billion lavished on fat cats this year;

- The big four banks between them paid some 200 staff an average of £1million last year.

B. The reasons for the Conservative Party's links to the banks

- More than a quarter of all Conservative MPs and peers have held jobs in banking or the financial sector;

- Of the 498 Tory MPs and peers, 134 are or have been employed in the financial sector;

- 70 of the Conservative Party’s 305 MPs are or have ben employed in the financial sector.

- Among the 193 Conservative peers, more than a third work or have worked in finance or banking;

- Altogether there are more Tory MPs who have been on the banks’ payroll than the total number of Lib Dem politicians;

- Among the Cabinet members with links to the City are:

(i)   Pay-master General Francis Maude, who has worked for Solomon Bros and Morgan Stanley;

(ii)  Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Strathclyde who was chair of Trafalgar Capital Management from 2001-10;

(iii) Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin, who worked for NM Rothschild & Son from 1986-2009;

(iv) International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, who worked for Lazard Bros from 1979-2009;
(iv) and Commons Leader Sir George Young, who worked for the Samuel Hill merchant bank.

- Eleven Tory MPs and peers have worked for Barclays including:

(i)   Richard Bacon MP,

(ii)  Jesse Norman MP,

(iii)  former Chancellor Lord Lawson,

(iv)  Earl Howe

(v)  and Andrea Leadsom MP.

- A further eight Conservatives have been at Rothschild, including:

(i)   John Redwood MP,

(ii)  Mark Garnier MP,

(iii) former Chancellor Lord Lamont

(iv) and Jacob Rees-Mogg MP.

           

- Four Conservatives worked for Lehman Bros, the company whose collapse sparked the financial crisis. They include:

(i)  Steve Baker MP, Chief Architect, Global Financing and Asset Servicing Platforms at the company from 2006-2008,

(ii) Brooks Newmark MP

(iii) and Lord Freeman.

           

- Others with links to the financial sector include:

(i)   Billionaire Lord Ashcroft,

(ii)  Welfare minister Lord Freud,

(iii) Harriet Baldwin MP

(iv) and Kwasi Kwarteng MP.

- The real coalition governing Britain is between the banks and the Tory Party. 
  The Lib-Dems are Tories by another name.

Originally posted on Friday 4th November 2011