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”
Iain S
You could click on the links in comments above if you really wanted to find out. National collective have collated them.
Iain S
I’m sure putting words into other people’s mouths is something that you don’t think twice about, but does it not embarrass you when you’re wrong?
Richas went onto agree by saying, ‘yeah, I’d rather the left’s campaign funds went to beating the coalition.’
And I’m so glad you’ve decided on my attitude towards gay-baiting. Obviously that is my position, it’s not like you’re ever wrong.
Iain S
Did I say you were a better Together spokesperson?
I’m sure Richas would love to speak for himself, but you’re doing your best to speak for him.
Seriously, You do know that you can’t verify any personal history I give you. What would be the point of that exercise?
Alec
Disagree with you! How very dare I!
You didn’t – as on many points before – said anything nail-downable. You floated a thought which would be heard by those with the correct sort of ears what you wanted it to be, and scurry away when challenged.
Then you should have said “a Tory”. You didn’t. It is to be construed that, without specifying the in/definite article, either one or the other can be taken as the intention. Thus, the phrasing you used that you were linking BT in toto to the Tory Party in toto; especially when the totality of the rest of your comments are taken into account.
~alec
Richas
I have read the national collective stuff and frankly it is underwhelming. it is highly selective, fails to differentiate between allegation and proven fact and piles innuendo on innuendo.
Supplying oil, or indeed anything, to war torn areas of the world is a dangerous, messy business full of legal disputes where aggrieved parties fling mud at each other in court.but I do not have a problem with Iraqis legally selling oil for medicine during the sanctions years or a firm supplying Serbians with heating fuel when there were no sanctions and the winter was biting..
You took the national collective stuff and assumed Taylor dealt with Arkan, he did not. You assume that his anger at them spreading such misinformation is unjustified but your own posts show why he made the mistake of threatening legal action, it is misleading (and TBH the article above is not up to scratch either, I presume because of some sense of solidarity with the national collective being bullied by a rich man and his firm).
Taylor is a rich Tory CEO. Not my cup of tea at all but the Cyber Nats have decided that he is the way to link Better Together to the tories and so make the referendum be about tories not constitutional arrangements. Sad.