Tony Blair in honours for sale scandal

WHEN Paul Drayson joined the House of Lords in 2004 he became the latest in a long line of Labour donors to be handed a peerage, knighthood or other gong, writes Robert Winnett.

Drayson, who has given more than £1m to the party, joins Lord Sainsbury, Lord Bhattacharyya and at least six other donors who have joined the Labour benches in the upper house since 1997.

He became a government minister in 2005 — joining Lord Sainsbury, the party’s biggest donor, who has given more than £16m over the past decade. He has served as a science minister since 1998.

Tony Blair was recently identified as the biggest dispenser of political patronage in the Lords since life peers were created in 1958.

Yet behind the scenes the prime minister’s plans to ennoble a further four Labour donors have met resistance. They are among the latest batch of nominees for working peerages from Blair and the opposition parties. One of the Labour donors, the stockbroker Barry Townsley, has made a £2m donation to a city academy in west London.

The appointment of the new peers has been delayed by the Appointments Commission, which is charged with scrutinising the list and advising the prime minister about the candidates’ suitability. The commission is understood to have concerns about several of those put forward, but does not have the power to block nominations.

The chances of Labour donors being honoured are statistically high. Three-quarters of donors who have given more than £50,000 to the Labour party have been honoured, leading to accusations that gongs may in effect be for sale.

A recent analysis found that every Labour donor who has given more than £1m has received a peerage or a knighthood. These include Sir Christopher Ondaatje, Sir Gulam Noon, Sir David Garrard, Sir Ronald Cohen, Sir Frank Lowe and Sir Alan Sugar.

Since 2001, when the Electoral Commission began detailing political donations, the government has bestowed honours on 12 of the 14 individuals who have given Labour more than £200,000. Of the 22 who donated more than £100,000, 17 received honours — including Bill Kenwright, the impresario and Patrick Stewart, the Star Trek actor. In total, 80% of the money raised from individuals is from those who have received honours.

Suzanne Evans, a statistician at Birkbeck, University of London, found Labour donors are three times more likely to be honoured than Tory backers. “The probability that this difference could have occurred by chance is less than three in 1,000. Statistics cannot prove cause and effect but the results should arouse concern,” she said.