BIJ reveals sources of Tory funding under Cameron
Posted by
Linda Sharkey
on 9 February 2011 at 17:36
Tags: Agencies, Journalism
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism generated more headlines today with a story that revealed City’s financial contribution to the Conservative Party.
Looking at cash donations from financial services companies since 2005, The Bureau did in-depth research to conclude that City financing “has doubled under David Cameron to over 50 per cent of total Tory funding”.
According to The Bureau’s editor Iain Overton, figures were calculated by taking publicly available information such as the Electoral Commission’s (EC) register of political party donors and the House of Common’s register of members’ interests.
The Bureau defined financial services to include hedge funds, banks, venture capital, private equity, investment funds, insurance and reinsurance firms.
Overton said: “Taking the overall donations (cash) figures from the EC register we analysed the proportion of contributions from Financial Services to the Conservative Party.”
Journalists Nick Mathiason and Yuba Bessaoud did the investigation alongside an intern, Dawn Burrows. They researched every year from 2005 onwards, identifying each name, company and individual involved in the financial cash provided to the Tories.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism is a not-for-profit independent organisation that generates investigations for national and international press and broadcast media. This story was self-funded by the BIJ.
