Political Parties: Funding

But, my Lords, I have no sympathy at all for the Prime Minister and his coterie of cronies who are at the heart of this affair. They have dragged politics, their party, and, sadly, this House, into disrepute. The buck stops firmly at No. 10. I accept that the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor did not know about loans for peerages. Can it be true, however, that the Deputy Prime Minister did not know, that the Chancellor did not know, that even the Labour Treasurer did not know? As it concerns the honour of this House, who in the government machine knew that certain individuals had loaned money to the Labour Party before they were nominated for peerages in the current list? Was it the Patronage Secretary, or perhaps the noble Baroness the Leader of the House or the noble Lord, Lord Levy? Just who did know, apart from the Prime Minister? I welcome this Statement, as far as it goes. We on this side supported the moves made in recent years to improve the law on party funding, since Mr Major set up the Committee on Standards in Public Life in 1994. We will join in talks with Sir Hayden Phillips. My right honourable friend Mr Cameron has been working on proposals to reform the law on party funding. I hope that the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor will consider all those proposals, rather than rush to push through his own ideas—which, with the best will in the world, must have been cooked up in the No.10 kitchen after the story broke only a few days ago. Would it not be sensible to delay the Committee stage of the Electoral Administration Bill so that these critical matters can be considered in detail? If he cannot agree to that, will he use his considerable influence with the usual channels to ensure that time is made available to recommit any provisions that may be tabled on party finance, especially since we are already halfway through the Committee stage on that Bill? I know, for instance, that the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, the Government Chief Whip, hopes that some time could become available—time that is now scheduled for the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill. I do not suppose that I was the only Peer who was amazed to hear the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor say on television that he had found a loophole in the legislation that he now wanted to close, and that he had a Bill he could use to do so. It sounded all too much like the burglar caught in the back garden, with a bag of swag, who says he only wanted to polish the silver.