Greece Outside In: You can tell the nature of the Tory party by the company it keeps

Saturday, July 5, 2014

You can tell the nature of the Tory party by the company it keeps

Mainstream business and finance were absent from the Conservative fundraising ball. It was full of the new seekers of risk-free profit

Is the Tory party becoming the vehicle for a rootless, amoral global financial community with little loyalty to country or even to great business? I ask, in part, because of the character of the guest list at their parties.

Last year, the venue for the Tory summer fundraising dinner was the old Billingsgate fish market, this year a grand private members' club. Russian property developers, a Greek shipping tycoon, an Iranian investment banker, a Slovenian private equity magnate, Bermudan and Dubai-based financiers mingled with a medley of their British counterparts and stars of the Tory party. Guests worth together a cool £11bn were gathered to be tapped for cash, a skill at which the party has become a dab hand.