Questions have been raised over a possible conflict of interest arising from George Osborne’s announcement yesterday that he intends to break up BT as part of his plans for a broadband revolution because it “holds back” companies like Virgin and Carphone Warehouse.
The co-founder of Carphone Warehouse David Ross is a close friend of David Cameron, donating more than £130,000 to the Conservative party. A man not without controversy, he was forced to resign as Boris Johnson’s Olympic Adviser in December 2008 after breaking stock exchange rules by using £157 million of Carphone Warehouse shares to prop up his struggling property empire, and only last December he was questioned by police over an alleged assault.
Here is a detailed breakdown of his donations to the Conservative party; figures obtained from the Electoral Commission:
|
Received by |
Donor |
Date |
Donation |
Accumulation |
|
CCO |
Mr David P Ross |
09/05/2001 |
£25,000 |
£25,000 |
| CCO | David Ross | 31/03/2006 | £5,300 | £30,300 |
| CCO | Mr David Ross | 20/07/2006 | £4,460 | £34,760 |
| CCO | Mr David Ross | 02/10/2006 | £3,600 | £38,360 |
| Corby | David Ross | 06/06/2007 | £2,500 | £40,860 |
| Corby | David Ross | 19/09/2007 | £1,500 | £42,360 |
| CCO | Mr David Ross | 20/12/2007 | £41,000 | £83,360 |
| Corby | Mr David Ross | 20/12/2007 | £1,500 | £84,860 |
| Corby | Mr David P J Ross | 12/03/2008 | £1,500 | £86,360 |
| CCO | Mr David PJ Ross | 08/05/2008 | £30,500 | £116,860 |
| Corby | Mr David PJ Ross | 12/06/2008 | £1,500 | £118,360 |
| Corby | Mr David PJ Ross | 10/09/2008 | £1,500 | £119,860 |
| CCO | Mr David PJ Ross | 10/11/2008 | £8,000 | £127,860 |
| Corby | Mr David PJ Ross | 17/12/2008 | £1,500 | £129,360 |
| Corby | Mr David PJ Ross | 11/03/2009 | £1,500 | £130,860 |
| Corby | Mr David PJ Ross | 18/06/2009 | £1,500 | £132,360 |
| Corby | Mr David PJ Ross | 10/09/2009 | £1,500 | £133,860 |
The Conservative party were unavailable for comment.
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17 Responses to “Tory conflict of interest over BT break-up”
Henry
Mark: there is nothing inherently dodgy about making a political donation (although that’s increasingly conventional wisdom). It only becomes disreputable when you expect something in return, such as a contract or a peerage.
And you have to be suspicious when, for example, healthcare companies make contributions to Andrew Lansley’s office.
Romana
I’m not sure what you mean about Royal Mail’s protected status. Do you mean protected in the way that other companies are allowed to cherry pick and take on all of the profitable bits of mail delivery while Royal Mail have a protected obligation for single price universal delivery?
Alan W
Good piece, Shamik. It is interesting how inconsistent the Tories’ committment to competition is when it comes to the telecommunications sector.
Contrast their attitude to BT with Cameron’s response when Ofcom decided to challenge the monopolistic power wielded over the satellite broadcasting market by his new best friend Rupert Murdoch. Far from supporting Ofcom’s attempts to promote competition, Cameron instead announced that a Tory government would scrap the pesky regulator and leave Murdoch to rule the roost.
Clearly when it comes to BT, the interests of Cameron’s chums just happen to swing the other way, so competition is good this time.
Richard Blogger
What I don’t understand is why are the Tories so desparate to break up BT now? I mean, they created BT (and Lord Tebbit got a well paid job with them after he left government). What has happened – why didn’t they want to create “competition” when they first privatised it? Hmmm, I guess there wasn’t any political donations then to npersuade them otherwise.
Mark
Remember that a sitting Labour MP, Patricia Hewitt, sits on the board of BT. The article omits to mention this. She collects £60,000 a year, effectively earning money at three times the rate Ross is donating it.
Richard Blogger: presumably because broadband didn’t exist in the 1980s? BT today still has a monopoly on the “last mile” section of cables from the exchange to your home or workplace.