Lord Gold was brought in by the Prime Minister to investigate the party’s fund-raising methods after Peter Cruddas, the Conservative co-treasurer, was filmed boasting that top donors could have dinner with the Prime Minister.
However, questions have now been raised over the peer’s links with Lord Feldman, the co-chairman of the Conservative Party, who is in charge of fundraising and was responsible for hiring Mr Cruddas.
Lord Gold was a senior partner at law firm Herbert Smith, which advised Lord Feldman's family company for many years, until at least 2008. Lord Gold personally acted as a solicitor for the ladieswear company in 1995.
Norman Green, the chief operating officer of Herbert Smith under Lord Gold, has now gone to work for the Conservative Party in the same role.
Last night, Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said the inquiry was “unlikely to have much credibility” with Lord Gold at the helm.
He called for a “proper, independent inquiry” into the cash-for-access scandal conducted by people who are not linked to senior officials in the Conservative party.
“I don’t think anyone is even trying to call it an independent inquiry,” he said. “That would be an abuse of the English language.
Clearly Lord Gold is somebody who is a very close friend of the Conservative party, however you look at it.
He is bound to want to put the best gloss on events. I don’t believe his report is likely to have much credibility.
“It would have been very much better for the Conservative party if they had an independent inquiry in which they could find out whether it’s endemic and systematic or a silly cock-up.”
A spokesman for the Conservative party yesterday said two more peers would head up the investigation into its fundraising operation alongside Lord Gold.
“David Gold has never acted as a lawyer for, or otherwise advised, Andrew Feldman in a personal capacity,” he said. Lord Gold's office did not return calls for comment.
The peer will now be joined on the inquiry panel by Lord MacGregor, a former Cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and Baroness Browning, another former Minister, who has served as an Electoral Commissioner.
They will look at the conduct of fundraisers in the cash-for-access incident, but take the inquiry wider to examine how donors are introduced to the party, who is authorised to solicit funds, conversations with donors and compliance checks.
The team will report to the Prime Minister on the handling of the proposed donations and any necessary recommendations for future practice.
“I don’t think anyone is even trying to call it an independent inquiry,” he said. “That would be an abuse of the English language.
Clearly Lord Gold is somebody who is a very close friend of the Conservative party, however you look at it.
He is bound to want to put the best gloss on events. I don’t believe his report is likely to have much credibility.
“It would have been very much better for the Conservative party if they had an independent inquiry in which they could find out whether it’s endemic and systematic or a silly cock-up.”
A spokesman for the Conservative party yesterday said two more peers would head up the investigation into its fundraising operation alongside Lord Gold.
“David Gold has never acted as a lawyer for, or otherwise advised, Andrew Feldman in a personal capacity,” he said. Lord Gold's office did not return calls for comment.
The peer will now be joined on the inquiry panel by Lord MacGregor, a former Cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and Baroness Browning, another former Minister, who has served as an Electoral Commissioner.
They will look at the conduct of fundraisers in the cash-for-access incident, but take the inquiry wider to examine how donors are introduced to the party, who is authorised to solicit funds, conversations with donors and compliance checks.
The team will report to the Prime Minister on the handling of the proposed donations and any necessary recommendations for future practice.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9176791/Cash-for-access-David-Cameron-under-pressure-over-Lord-Gold-links-to-Conservatives.html
