‘Corruption widespread in UK politics’

British Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure to disclose all his meetings with his wealthy supporters. This comes following reports that one senior member of his ruling Conservative Party offered access to the prime minister in return for 250-thousand pounds in cash.

Press TV talks with William Spring, a member of the Conservative Party in the UK, to discuss the issue further. Below is the text of the interview.

Press TV: Cameron refused to reveal millionaire Tory donors that he hosted at 10 Downing Street. Cameron’s government had promised transparency and promised to clean up politics. Why is he refusing a proper inquiry?

Spring: Can I just correct quickly the statement that I was a former Conservative MP? I have stood for the Conservative Party in municipal elections. I am a member of the Conservative Party.

However, as an ordinary member of the Conservative Party, I obviously am appalled by the revelations that have come out through Mr. [Zbigniew] Kudas. However, on the other hand, he does not seem to be saying anything new.

The problem is, in British politics, there is a culture of corruption which is in both parties and all three parties. The gentleman who spoke earlier, who is an MP, he did not seem to refer to Tony Blair.

Tony Blair had money from the unions which was quite legitimate. He also had a load of money from the Indian millionaires. Before he went into Iraq, Tony Blair was quite wealthy but after the Iraq war, he became one of the richest men in the world. Now where did all that money come from?

Press TV: I understand that, sir, but does one make it right, if Tony Blair stole or whatever he had done, does it make it right for David Cameron to do it also?

Spring: Not at all. I think the problem is, though, the political system and the political parties.

The Liberal Democrats, for example, get loads of money from Europe. Otherwise, they would cease to exist, I think. There is nobody who actually wants to support them for their bizarre policies.

Now what I am saying is we need to get back to the roots. We need to get back to a proper participation of the public in the political parties. All this is a consequence of David Cameron living in his own security bubble.

For example, when I was in canvassing for the Conservative Party in 2010, I did not go around knocking on the doors saying to people, ‘if you vote for David Cameron, we will give you gay marriage’. Someone put that into the agenda of the Conservative Party. I would like to know who?

I did not go around knocking on the doors for a war on Libya. Someone put that into the agenda of the Conservative Party.

We thought David Cameron would escape from the mistakes of Tony Blair. He does not seem to have learned a thing. He just seems to be repeating his mistakes.

Press TV: Getting back to his refusal to go for a proper inquiry, do you think that that creates more questions the way that it has been handled so far?

Spring: Yes, I think the Prime Minister is going to refuse – you know, all political parties will refuse proper inquiries into their funding. The law is very obscure.

There is a complete lack of transparency in funding and this means that small pressure groups who are well-funded, for example the neo-cons in America, the Christian Zionists, can fund political parties to an exorbitant degree, as indeed has been shown in the US presidential campaign.

So the same is going on in Britain.

MSK/GMA/JR

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