Tories under pressure to reveal Ashcroft residency
By politics.co.uk staff
The Conservatives are under severe pressure to reveal the residency status of Lord Ashcroft, one of their main donors.
Information commissioner Christopher Graham said the Cabinet Office has just 35 days to end the secrecy over Lord Ashcroft’s residency status, after the Tory party consistently refused to reveal it.
The peer said he would become a UK resident ten years ago when awarded a life peerage in 2000, but details of his residency are infamously difficult to ascertain.
He spends much of time, and bases much of his extensive business interests, in the Central American state of Belize.
“Since Lord Ashcroft’s ennoblement, the question of where he lives has continued to be raised leading to speculation that Lord Ashcroft has not satisfied the undertaking he gave,” the ruling said.
“Statements by senior politicians concerning Lord Ashcroft’s undertaking have been evasive and obfuscatory and have served to compound this speculation.
“Lord Ashcroft could have ended the speculation about his residency by making a public statement to that effect. He has chosen not to do this.
“In the commissioner’s view, there is a legitimate interest for the public to know more about Lord Ashcroft’s undertaking.
“This flows from the legitimate public interest in understanding the process by which Lord Ashcroft’s peerage was awarded, knowing the details of any conditions placed upon that award and knowing whether Lord Ashcroft has met what appears to have been a condition to his award.”
The deputy Conservative chairman is thought to wield considerable power within the party. Much of the Tory campaign in marginal constituencies is funded through his donations.
The ruling marks a significant victory for Gordon Prentice, the Labour MP who has fought a three-year freedom of information battle for the information.
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