David Cameron was asked during PMQs today whether or not he would continue hosting dinners at Downing Street with a man named Ian Taylor. He was also urged to return the money Mr Taylor has donated to the Conservative Party.
David Cameron was asked during PMQs today whether or not he would continue hosting dinners at Downing Street with a man named Ian Taylor. He was also asked whether he would be giving back money the same Mr Taylor had donated to the Tory Party.
Mr Cameron gave a curt response, accusing the MP who asked the question – Angus Robertson of the SNP – of playing a “cheap political card”.
So just who is Ian Taylor?
Well first off he is the president and chief executive of the world’s largest oil trader, Vitol, and he has been involved in the oil business for more than 30 years. Since June 2006 he has donated £555,100 to the Tory party. He also dined with David Cameron at Downing Street on 2 November 2011.
In 2001, The Observer revealed that Vitol paid £1 million to Serbian war criminal Željko Ražnatović (better known as Arkan) to arrange an oil deal with the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. For its part Vitol said no illegal conduct was involved in this transaction. According to the the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Arkan was responsible for at least 24 crimes against humanity, including the murder of civilians, rape and ethnic cleansing.
According to Herald Scotland, Vitol, the company which Ian Taylor head, has also in the past used Employee Benefit Trusts to avoid tax on the incomes of its UK staff and has been in discussion with HMRC about a deal to pay this off.
Is it really acceptable for Mr Cameron to dismiss concerns about donations from someone whose company had a relationship with one of Serbia’s most notorious war criminals in so blase a manner?
64 Responses to “David Cameron’s dodgy money”
Richas
and that common story relies upon the Guardian/Observer piece which named Bob Finch as the Vitol person who dealt with Arkan.
Taylor was working for Vitol then but proabably in Asia and not on the board let alone as CEO as he is now.
Iain S
Do you know where was Taylor was when Vitol paid money to ease deals in Iraq? Where was he when Vitol was caught up in that Congo thing? What did he know about Vitol selling contaminated oil to Pakistan and damaging and the countries infrastructure? What about the juicy deal that the Tories gave Vitol in Libya?
I’m surprised that he’s got so many fans on Left Foot Forward.
Richas
I just have this businessweek biog link
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=23554305&privcapId=5868941
I am not a fan. He is a Tory oil dealer. Vitol is a big oil firm. what he is not is any worse than many other tories and whilst supplying oil globally is a messy complicated and sometimes dangerous business it is not really clear that they are any worse than any other oil supplier in ethical terms.
Given that Better Together is a campaign with capped funding limits the more of that capped amount that comes from tories the better, the left should not be wasting too much money on Salmond’s poll, just enough to beat him. Labour will need to put in the work as there are so few tories in Scotland and they are so marginalised that every time Osborrne or Cameron says anything the Yes vote goes up so it seems fair that they put up the cash for the campaign.
Iain S
So your defence of Ian Taylor is that you need his money to try and get one over on Salmond. At least you’re honest.
I thought that Labour members were thin on the ground these days as well. Didn’t Professor Mark Wickham-Jones just do an analysis of Dunfermline Labour since the mid 90s? Membership down from 1000 to 163.
But you go on using Tory money to defeat the evil Salmond. It’s not like you need the time to come up with socialist policies to attract support.
You ever wonder why the Yes vote goes up when Osborne or Cameron pay us a visit? You ever wonder how it came to be your political mission to ensure that Scotland doesn’t escape their clutches and, possibly, in the constitutional upheaval, lead to a reformed Westminster?
David
SNP can’t give knighthoods