TORY Party chairman Sir Norman Fowler accused Labour during the debate
of indulging in ''slur after slur after slur''.
He said: ''The Conservative Party did not, does not, and will not
accept donations from foreign governments and that also applies to royal
families and the agents of the governments and royal families.''
He said the party received a total of #440,000 from companies owned by
Asil Nadir between 1985 and 1990.
He insisted the donations were made when Polly Peck was seen as ''a
highly successful British company'', and repeated his pledge to return
any cash that proved to be stolen.
He disclosed that the party had contacted Polly Peck's administrators,
Touche Ross, in October 1991, offering information.
''I have to say that one hour before entering the Chamber I at last
received a letter -- 601 days after our first communication.''
He added: ''I hope Touche Ross will start now dealing with us and will
not seek to pursue this through the newspapers.''
Sir Norman and Labour deputy leader Margaret Beckett were involved in
an angry clash over the alleged donation from Saudi Arabia.
The clash came after a reference by Mrs Beckett to Sir Norman's
insistence -- at a select committee hearing last week -- that the Tories
did not take money from foreign governments. She asked when that rule
had come into force, to be told by a furious Sir Norman that the rule
''exists now and has always existed.''
Sir Norman demanded that Mrs Beckett dissociate herself from comments
she had made about ''this totally unsubstantiated story'' which had
''slurred the Saudi Arabian royal family.''
However, Mrs Beckett refused to withdraw her remarks. She said
allegations about the Tories taking money from agents of other foreign
governments had been made and must be discussed. ''I said they should be
denied if they were untrue. You have denied them -- what are you
complaining about?''
Sir Norman accused her of ''rumourmongering,'' but Mrs Beckett
retorted that rumours existed precisely because the Tories would not
reveal who gave them money. ''When they tell us, then there will be
presumably no further rumours,'' she said.
Sir Norman said he was committed to the notion of voluntary donations
to parties adding that in 199293, the party's estimated income was #26m,
#18m of which was raised and spent in the constituencies.
He denied donations bought influence and insisted the party did not
accept illegallyobtained cash, or donations ''with strings attached''.
Sir Norman urged Labour to return the #31,000 it received from Robert
Maxwell.
He said: ''If money received from Asil Nadir is tainted, then money
received from Robert Maxwell is frankly covered with black tar.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article