David Cameron spent nearly £140,000 buying land neighbouring his Oxfordshire home from a Tory party donor who runs a lobbying firm.
The Prime Minister bought that land in July from Lord Chadlington, the chief executive of public relations company Huntsworth and a close political ally. Chadlington is the chairman of Cameron’s local constituency association and donated £10,000 towards his run for the Conservative leadership. Since then, he has donated more than £60,000 to the party, while his company has donated a further £30,000.
According to Downing Street officials, the land was independently valued and the Camerons had paid “market rate”. The purchase was not publicly disclosed on parliamentary or Whitehall registers, as Cameron is not required to release details of private property. The deal was reportedly cleared by Whitehall officials who decided there was no conflict of interest.
There is no suggestion of foul play, but this could still be problematic for Cameron. First is the question of the nature of his links to Chadlington, a Tory Party donor and PR official. Even if the purchase was entirely above board, at a time when the public is angry about the elitism and perceived cronyism of Westminster, it does not look good.
Second, and arguably more important, is the fact that this deal was done while the majority of the public is undergoing financial hardship, and Cameron is pressing the message that “we are all in this together”. The subject of the Camerons’ wealth has long been a matter of speculation, with the Prime Minister laughing off Andrew Marr’s suggestion that he was worth £30m.
The perception that he is posh and out of touch is a sore point for Cameron — but one that is clearly held by many (Ipsos Mori recently found that 63 per cent of the public thought he was out of touch). The fact that it appears that the Camerons made the £137,500 purchase without requiring a mortgage will do nothing to help this image. The land includes part of Cameron’s driveway and a building believed to be a garage. “It is where his drive is, so he bought it,” a No 10 source was quoted as saying. The rest of the country could not make such a decision so casually.
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