Party funds lead to list ‘suspicions’

Political parties’ reliance on large donations from individuals or trade unions means there is “bound to be suspicion” about honours and other favours, a public standards watchdog chief has warned.

Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said yesterday he could understand why people raised questions about party donors on the honours list.

In the New Year’s Honours list, Paul Ruddock was knighted for services to the arts. He has given £500,000 to the Conservative Party.

Sir Christopher said: “I don’t think it’s a point about the honours system – I think it’s a point about the way the political parties in this country are funded.

“As long as they have an arrangement by which they depend on very large donations from rich individuals and organisations like trade unions, then there is bound to be suspicion about favours being granted.

“The present arrangement undermines public confidence in the integrity of the political system but it’s very unfair to individuals who are given honours for perfectly valid reasons.”

Sir Christopher added: “There are no easy solutions to it – if there were, we would have adopted them.”