Donation row: the Tories and Lib Dems might not be to blame but they look as shifty as rats

The £520,000 bequeathed by Joan Edwards was intended for "whichever Government is in office", so how did it end up in the coalition parties' coffers?

By George Eaton

Among the list of party political donations published by the Electoral Commission yesterday, the most curious were those from “Ms Joan L B Edwards”, who was reported as giving £420,576 to the Conservatives and £99,423 to the Lib Dems. Initially thought to be a rare act of pro-coalition generosity, it transpired that the money was left in her will, which, according to party sources, stipulated that it should go “to whoever was the party of government of the day”. Since this is a coalition, the money was split between the Tories and the Lib Dems based on the number of MPs they have.

But today’s Daily Mail casts a strikingly different light on the story. The paper reports that the will, written in 2001, in fact stated that the £520,000 should go to “whichever Government is in office at the date of my death for the Government in their absolute discretion to use as they may think fit” and made no reference to any political party. Based on that, it is patently clear that she intended the money to be used by the government to fund public services or pay down the national debt, not by political parties to fund spin doctors and poster campaigns. As shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy tweeted last night, “this looks dodgy as hell by Tories&Libs”.

In response, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems have both stated that the executors of the will, two solicitors, informed them that they were beneficiaries. A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The solicitors for the deceased, acting as the executors, informed the Conservative Party that it was a beneficiary of the will.” A Lib Dem spokesman said: “The Liberal Democrats were notified that the party was a beneficiary of Miss Edwards’s will.” In other words, if anyone is to blame for the apparent misappropriation of the money it is the executors, not, as the Mail would have it, “grasping politicians”.

What remains unclear is at what point (if any) the executors were advised that the money should be treated as a party political donation. The Mail was told that the executors “initially contacted the Government’s Treasury Solicitors department to ask where to send the cash, and that both the Treasury Solicitors and the office of Attorney General Dominic Grieve – a Conservative MP – then ruled it was a ‘party political donation'” But the Attorney General’s Office replied that “The executors of Miss Edwards’s estate contacted the AGO about her bequest but the Attorney provided no advice.

“The Treasury Solicitors replied on behalf of the Attorney General’s Office setting out further steps the executors may wish to take to identify the correct recipient of the bequest. It did not, nor could have, advised to whom the bequest should go.”

The BBC’s Robin Brant reports that the executors are currently not commenting but “may release a statement this afternoon”. Only then, perhaps, will it be clear who was to blame for the misinterpretation of her will. In the meantime, the Tories and Lib Dems are left looking as shifty as rats. With each successive scandal, the case for state funding grows a little stronger.