Conservative members asked to stump up £2,000 each

Conservative members in Bury St Edmunds are being asked to pay £2,000 each to bailout the local Conservative association, which has plunged £130,000 in to debt.

The local paper reports:

Tory insiders claim the debts – which they describe as “a mess” – arose because of the Conservative’s resource centre in Woolpit, which has not been used as much as originally planned, leaving the association out of pocket as a result.

It has now emerged the association will try and get past executive council members to stump up £2,000 each to bail it out, a move one Tory warned could lead to an exodus of members…

Advisors, [former Chairman] Mr Flack said, had claimed “it will be necessary for all past executive council members to contribute to the fund and that the individual amounts need to be £2,000.” [East Anglian Daily Times]

The perils of being an unincorporated association by the looks of it (and one of the reasons why the party regularly recommends the setting up of legal entities to deal with matters such as the acquisition and running of property).