Labour's Money Men (UK Politics) By PAUL EASTHAM Deputy Political Editor LABOUR faced charges of hypocrisy last night after attacking the Conservatives for accepting £1-million from Belize-based tycoon Michael Ashcroft. Senior Ministers claimed this week that the cash from a 'foreign donor' breached Tory rules, the Parliamentary sleazebuster's proposed reforms and planned laws on party funding. But yesterday, close inspection of Labour documents showed Tony Blair's party has accepted cash from five rich donors who, just like Mr Ashcroft, live abroad yet are eligible to vote in Britain. ROBERT EARL, founder of the Planet Hollywood hamburger chain, is top of the list. The world's richest restaurateur gave Labour £1-million in 1997 after Mr Blair was forced to hand a similar amount back to Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone following the row over tobacco sponsorship. Although the multi-millionaire, who also developed the Hard Rock Cafe chain, has lived in Orlando, Florida since the 1970s, he was born in London. That means he conforms to Labour's rule that only those eligible to vote here are allowed to contribute to the party. As recently as 1993 he described himself as a Tory but he switched allegiance after advising Peter Mandelson on the Millennium Dome. PETER B. GREEN, who presides over one of the world's great fortunes, is listed as giving 'more than £5,000' Yet the entrepreneur has been an expatriate for 23 years. Born into a hard-working family in a Manchester slum he married Tory heiress Mary-Jean Mitchell who once had hopes of marrying Prince Charles. Today he lives 'like a Sultan' on Marshall's Island in the tax haven of Bermuda but roves between homes on several continents using two private Gulfstream jets. Switzerland and Liechtenstein are two more of the tax havens associated with his fortune. HOWARD STRINGER is another donor listed as giving the party more than £5,000. The adroit, charming chairman of the Sony electronics and entertainment corporation in the US. is a former head of the mighty CBS. Welsh born, he lives in New York. Wanting to return to Britain, he was a candidate for the BBC director generalship, which went to another Labour donor Greg Dyke. FRANK LOWE, the international advertising guru, who was joint founder of PR consultancy Lowe-Howard-Spink, is also a £5,000-plus donor. After a rogue poll in the Week before the 1987 election, Margaret Thatcher called in Mr Lowe and Sir Tim Bell over the head of Saatchi and Saatchi. They created the slogan 'Life's Better with the Conservatives - Don't let Labour Ruin It' which was used in a massively successful £2.5-million newspaper campaign for the last week of the election. A clue as to why he gave money to Labour is that after one of his prize pekinese died in an operation in Paris, Mr Lowe, who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, wrote to Tony Blair urging him to lift Britain's 'antiquated' quarantine laws. 'I received a prompt, courteous reply,' that Labour was dealing with the problem. 'My vote goes to whoever reforms the quarantine laws,' he said. MICHAEL WATT, a millionaire and New Zealand citizen based in the Irish Republic, is yet another £5,000-plus donor on the list. Mr Watt, jockey Lester Piggott's ex-manager, runs international sports television production and distribution company CSI which markets English Premier League football around the world. He spent £70,000 of his own money buying a 1,000-ton cargo ship which he sent on a personal clean-up of the Antarctic. The boat was filled with debris left by untidy explorers. A friend of Rodney Bickerstaffe, Left-wing leader of the public workers' union, Unison, he also put up £80,000 to rescue the Durham miners' gala after seeing the hit film "Brassed Off, about a colliery band. Although not a foreign donor, Labour also faces a problem with Lord Sainsbury of Turville. The party accuses Mr Ashcroft of having a 'conflict of interest' because he is both the Tories' biggest donor and its treasurer. But the peer is to give Labour its biggest donation in the coming year of £2-million. Critics say he has an even bigger conflict as he is both Britain's biggest personal investor in GM foods, and the Science Minister whose department is responsible for overseeing GM foods. =================================== Daily Mail, Friday, November 26, 1999
