Last Friday, openDemocracy revealed that a secretive group of business leaders was bankrolling the Conservative Party to the tune of over £130 million. The report paints a disturbing picture of donors being treated to dinners, lunches and drinks receptions, rewarded with knighthoods and peerages, and given privileged access to senior ministers. The businesses that these wealthy Tory supporters lead come disproportionately from one industry: finance. Contributions from this sector amount to some £50 million. Of this, £18 million comes from just five very wealthy hedge-fund backers.
The Conservatives have long had a close relationship with big business, just as the Labour Party has long been allied to workers’ unions. Large corporations donate to the Tories on the understanding that in government the party will look after their interests. Those interests don’t necessarily coincide with the interests of the companies’ workers; but then the workers’ unions have traditionally donated to Labour, which in turn represented their interests.
Although, there is a clear class divide between the two parties, in the past both were broadly based, drawing their funding from the management and the workers of a wide range of industries across the whole country. In the UK’s two-party system, the representatives of big business and big unions counterbalanced each other.
