Skinflint's City Notes
If complex devious plots appeal to you, hark at this one. It is the brainchild of a politically aware City man.
The Labour Party cannot abandon its policies even when they are seen in the light of impartial evidence to be nonsense or counterproductive because it might lose its power base. In particular the unions have a strong hold over the party not only because they spon sor so many individual MPs but also because they contribute such a hefty chunk into the party coffers.
And that money is by no means assured 7 the unions are quite capable of removing financial support if they are displeased; much more so than industrialists would be if a Tory party did not quite meet with their approval.
This also means of course that Socialists can never move against the unions. We saw them back down pretty sharpish over the Barbara Castle proposals to curb union power, when the TUC started growling. The trade unions fund the party and exact their reward.
So if large companies which currently make substantial contri butions to Conservatives, or the League of Empire Loyalists, Aims of Industry, or whatever, could divert a bit of money towards the Labour Party, they could produce a dramatic change in the political life of the country. 1 am not suggesting substitution of Socialist contributions for Tory ones, merely a few thousand pounds. The first and most immediate effect would be to buy out the party from the grasp of the unions and so make it less subservient to the more extreme union factions. Obviously the So cialists could not go counter to their elective base, but they could then afford to consider electors more and the old paymasters less.
Secondly, once the companies were the new source of cash, they might be in a very much more equal position when going into negotiations with a Labour cabinet. They would not have to be so permanently on the defensive as now they are.
There is a certain delightful plausibility about the unexpectedness of the Macchiavellian logic. And what the hell, it certainly is worth trying.
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