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Senior Tory Peter Cruddas resigns after cash for PM access sting
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| Contributor | New Jerusalem |
| Last Edited | New Jerusalem Mar 25, 2012 08:06am |
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| Category | Scandal |
| Author | The Guardian |
| Media | Newspaper - Guardian |
| News Date | Sunday, March 25, 2012 02:05:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The Tory party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas has resigned after it was revealed he was offering access to the prime minister and chancellor for up to £250,000. He was forced out after footage emerged of him apparently making the offer to undercover reporters.
In his resignation statement last night the senior Conservative official responsible for collecting donations for the party said he deeply regretted the repercussions of his "bluster" during the recorded conversations. He added: "Clearly there is no question of donors being able to influence policy or gain undue access to politicians. Specifically, it was categorically not the case that I could offer, or that David Cameron would consider, any access as a result of a donation. Similarly, I have never knowingly even met anyone from the Number 10 policy unit.
"But in order to make that clear beyond doubt, I have regrettably decided to resign with immediate effect."
Cruddas, the founder of online trading company Currency Management Consultants, is heard discussing how much access different-sized donations would get, during an undercover operation run by the Sunday Times.
In the footage, he is heard to say: "Two hundred grand to 250 is premier league … what you would get is, when we talk about your donations the first thing we want to do is get you at the Cameron/Osborne dinners.
"You do really pick up a lot of information and when you see the prime minister, you're seeing David Cameron, not the prime minister. But within that room everything is confidential – you can ask him practically any question you want.
"If you're unhappy about something, we will listen to you and put it into the policy committee at No 10 – we feed all feedback to the policy committee."
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