Conservative donors coordinate Kaminski letter by “Jewish leaders”

Media Integrity

A letter from "Jewish leaders" to the Daily Telegraph appears to be little more than a coordinated effort by a series of Conservative party funders & supporters

A letter from “Jewish leaders” to the Daily Telegraph appears to be little more than a coordinated effort by a series of Conservative party funders and supporters.

The letter, reported in today’s Daily Telegraph, says:

“Many people in the Jewish community have noted with concern the recent attacks on David Cameron’s allies in eastern Europe … It has become increasingly obvious that these accusations are unfair, baseless and politically motivated …

“Anti-Semitism is far too grave a charge to be used as a political football. We call upon those responsible for making unsubstantiated allegations to withdraw them.”

But many of the signatories appear themselves to be “politically motivated.” For example, the top four signatories all have links to the Conservative party. Lord Young of Graffham was President of the Board of Trade under Margaret Thatcher; Flo Kaufmann donated £4,950 to the party; Howard Leigh is the party’s senior Treasurer and has made a series of donations; and Benjamin Perl was a friend of John Major from his constituency of Huntingdon.

Among the other signatories, Dr Alan Mendoza is a Conservative party councillor in Brent and Executive Director of the neo-conservative think tank, the Henry Jackson Society. Meanwhile, Richard Harrington is Chair, and Stephen Massey sits on, the Executive Board of the Conservative Friends of Israel. The Telegraph’s accompanying article only lists Lord Young’s link to the Tories.

UPDATE 16.13

Total donations from signatories of the Telegraph letter amount to £135,683:

Flo Kaufmann – £4,950 + £350 (non-cash)

Howard Leigh – £72,620 + £600 (non-cash)

Richard Harrington – £19,350 + £4,313 (non-cash)

Stephen Massey – £33,500

UPDATE 09.02

I have amended the entry relating to Benjamin Perl as to the comment below.

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18 Responses to “Conservative donors coordinate Kaminski letter by “Jewish leaders””

  1. Albert Shanker

    Pathetic. How their argument falls apart at the first ray of sunlight. However, it’s just about enough for the likes of the Telegraph etc al to run a story.

  2. Will Straw

    Total donations to Tories from signatories of Telegraph "Jewish leaders" letter = £136k http://bit.ly/Gxn0V

  3. Adam Bienkov

    RT @wdjstraw Total donations to Tories from signatories of Telegraph "Jewish leaders" letter = £136k http://bit.ly/Gxn0V

  4. sunny hundal

    RT @wdjstraw: Total donations to Tories from signatories of Telegraph "Jewish leaders" letter = £136k http://bit.ly/Gxn0V

  5. Tim Ireland

    RT @wdjstraw: Total donations to Tories from signatories of Telegraph "Jewish leaders" letter = £136k http://bit.ly/Gxn0V

Comments are closed.