Tory centre under investigation

10.35.14am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 9th Oct 2006

Who funds the Tory's Coleshill Manor Centre?

The Midlands section of Sunday's Politics Show on BBC1 decided not to use their interviews with Wolverhampton Liberal Democrats but devoted their time to lifting the lid on Coleshill Manor. This 19th Century country house is now the centre for the Conservative Party's campaign activities and leaflets found in Park Ward have had an imprint showing they had a connection with Coleshill Manor.

Recently, it has been the subject of questions about exactly how it is funded and whether the costs are counted as part of the Tories campaign costs. Even party leader, David Cameron, is not sure what is going on. He told the BBC that the centre "is part of the party" but he was contradicted by former leader William Hague who was more circumspect in his description of it as "part of the Conservative family".

The Electoral Commission has announced that it is to hold an inquiry into exactly how the centre is funded, including the £1m it receives from the Midlands Industrial Council and it has written to the party seeking more information. A law passed in 2000 was supposed to make the funding of political parties transparent. The Labour Party tried to get round the law by soliciting "loans" and it is beginning to look as if the Tories have been circumventing the law by getting innocuous sounding organisations to act as conduits for anonymous donations.