A glance at the Electoral Commission's latest report into party finances shows that the Muslim Friends of Labour donated over £300,000 to Scottish Labour's election campaign this year.
When the group was set up a few years ago with a dinner at Glasgow Central Mosque, the obvious problem was not whether Muslims were friends of Labour, but whether Labour were friends of Muslims.
The Herald reported that the "Muslim community" had donated £300,000 to Labour. While not strictly true, what MFL does is give cover to those giving donations by it not ending up on the Electoral Commission's web site. Noman Tahir calls for a naming and shaming (UPDATE: More in the Sunday Times).
Over the last few years, the decline in Muslim membership of the Labour Party has been well documented. What hasn't been reported however was a corresponding drop in donations from Muslims - probably because there wasn't much in the way of Muslim philanthropy of this sort in the first place. MFL is an attempt to recognise that money can buy you love in politics.
And what love they were trying to buy! Obviously the biggest donation to a Constituency Labour Party was Mohammad Sarwar's Glasgow Central (£6,000). On top of that, £4,000 went to Tom Harris's Glasgow South, £2,000 each to Jim Murphy's East Renfrewshire and Tommy McAvoy's Rutherglen & Hamilton, and £1,000 to Frank Roy's Motherwell and Wishaw. All of them pro-war, all of them very strongly for the assault on civil liberties, and in the case of Jim Murphy, also a former chair of the Labour Friends of Israel. The CLP donations may have been channelled into the respective Holyrood campaigns. I wonder still though what their thinking was behind them.
On top of this was the £300,000 to the Scottish Labour Party. If the Barnett formula was applied to this money from London, then there is some serious cash in the MFL. It may well be though that this money was raised from the fundraising dinners they hold in Glasgow. Otherwise I'm not sure of the logic behind such a large intervention into the Scottish election. Sure, Muslims in England appear to be panicking at the idea of a Tory government and trying to get back in bed with Labour, but that is not the case at Holyrood with the SNP defeat of Labour. MFL is obviously closely tied to the Labour Party, but it still pulls at the heart and purse strings of the Muslim community and needs to justify the money it spends.
Meanwhile, the Daily Record donated £10,000 to the Labour Party - on top of the free advertorials (which apparently don't have to be declared to the Electoral Commission).
Using a third party organisation should not let individuals get round having to declare their donations (indirectly) to a political party. The West Midlands Business Council (a front for Tory fundraising) was similarly found to be in breach of the law and made to identify individual donations (or at least that's my recollection).. time to do a bit of research and maybe we can unmask who really are "Friends" and may be after a peerage?
Posted by: Tartan Hero | 24 August 2007 at 02:53 PM
Today's Sunday Times seems to have some of the answers Grant
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2327904.ece
Posted by: Osama | 26 August 2007 at 02:41 PM
So this is what it all comes down to, the almighty dollar.
Do I sense some envy that finance is going to Labour and not to your particular political preferences, which I guess would be SNP.
I don't see why there should be panic at the idea of a Tory Government on the part of any religious group. After all, the Tories and most religious groups are right-wing, believe in capital punishment, keeping the women in the home and well under wraps, and allowing the male to run rampant, spending money in bars, (see O's post on Mr Monteith)night-clubs (having illicit relations with women while wifey is at home with kids - it's the barefoot and pregnant approach) and off-licences, and taking taxis home!!
Would think that the Tories would suit some religionists down to the ground.
What are you going on about?
Posted by: aineliva | 27 August 2007 at 07:35 AM
Aineliva, same reason Catholics haven't historically backed the Tories. Do you really need a lesson in why minorities aren't fond of right-wing political parties?
Posted by: Osama | 27 August 2007 at 04:35 PM
From thee Osama, lessons? What exactly on?
Oh and indeed some Catholics may not back the Tories and some may, perhaps you have failed to notice that in the last century some of the most Catholic countries in Europe were Right-Wing Facists Dictatorships.
Religion and Facism seem to get on well together.
Posted by: aineliva | 29 August 2007 at 04:16 PM