May 22, 2008
Why would anyone want to donate to Labour?
The strapline is deliberately provocative. I’m sure you can think of many good reasons.
But there is little doubt that the Tories’ fund-raising attempts are going more smoothly than Labour’s.
In Q4 of 2007, the Conservatives raised £11.3m and Labour £5.9m.
Today the Q1 figures for 2008 came through.
At first sight the Tories don’t seem so far ahead; at £4.2m compared to Labour’s £3m. But this disguises a weird anomaly. Boris Johnson’s campaign to be London mayor - which raised nearly £1.5m - is excluded from the Tory figures. Money for Ken Livingstone, by contrast, is included within the Labour total.
We won’t know how much Ken raised for a few more weeks. But for a true like-for-like the number should be subtracted from the £3m tally.
