BBC exposes Tory MP’s links to Midlands Industrial Council donations scandal

The role of the Midlands Industrial Council (MIC) in funding Conservative party activity has been bubbling away as a controversy for some time.

In essence, by giving money to the MIC rather than directly to the Conservative party, the system currently allows big donors to remain anonymous. The MIC in turn, after receiving these anonymous donations, funds Conservative campaigning.

Following public pressure, the Midlands Industrial Council published a one-off list of their currently active members – but won’t say who else has given money in the past or that they’ll publish names of new donors in the future. (The list of names is on Colin Ross’s website; Colin is a Lib Dem in the area and has covered several aspects of the story already).

This, of course, from the party that also solicited large loans from donors so that they too could stay anonymous.

The BBC Politics Show has now unearthed links between Conservative Party MP Julie Kirkbride and the MIC – see the story on the BBC website.

No sign of the story on Iain Dale’s blog yet; funny that, I thought he was always so keen on stories about party funding …