What can we do to change the minds of decision makers and people in general to actually do something about preparing for the forthcoming economic/energy crises (the ones after this one!)?
Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas has resigned after secretly filmed footage showed him apparently offering access to the prime minister for a donation of £250,000 a year.
He made the claim to Sunday Times reporters posing as potential donors.
He said £250,000 gave "premier league" access, including dinner with David Cameron and possibly the chance to influence government policy.
After leaving Shoreditch Comprehensive with no qualifications, aged 15 he went to work as a telex operator for Western Union in the City of London. After being made redundant, he went to work in the foreign currency trading rooms of various banks, including the Bank of Iran and Marine Midland.[1]
By 1989, Cruddas was the head foreign exchange dealer at the City of London branch of the Jordanian-based Petra Bank.[6] He left the same year to set-up his own business, starting CMC Markets with £10,000 in the bank. Effectively a bookmaker for the City of London, it allows dealers to place margin calls on foriegn currency movements. CMC Markets is currently valued at between £750M and £1.2Bn.[2]
Never mind cash for access, people who commute daily from Monoco to London by plane should be prosecuted for ecocide.
Cruddas was resident in Monaco for a period until March 2009, commuting daily from an apartment on Avenue de Spélugues to London City Airport.[2] In interview in early 2011 he stated that he had: "A £10m apartment in Monaco, a £5m house in Hertfordshire, a house in Antibes, a yacht and a private jet.
As Cruddas so clearly says in that taped interview if you can supply £200-250,000 then you can have the ear of the PM or Chancellor, and possibly some input into policy.
I wonder if the Tory 'fundraisers' / fraudsters do any kind of BOGOF deals with Call me Dave and Gideon?
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Frederick Douglass
In interview in early 2011 he stated that he had: "A £10m apartment in Monaco, a £5m house in Hertfordshire, a house in Antibes, a yacht, a private jet
oh dear not a good morning for Dave, corrupt treasurers another U turn coming up on Heathrow, and plans to concrete over the green belt between Birmingham and Coventry**...
Cruddas has a stated aim to giveaway £100M, enabling children like those from his own background to succeed. To enable this set up the Peter Cruddas Foundation, which is chaired by the former Tory cabinet minister David Young, Baron Young of Graffham.[2] Cruddas is the largest individual donor to the Duke of Edinburgh Award International Association, a board member of the Prince's Trust,[7] and has donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital.[1]
Cruddas supported the Royal Opera House and The Royal Ballet, and after becoming a member of the Chairman’s Circle, in March 2012 was invited to become a Trustee and join the Board of the Royal Opera House.[2]
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What a nice man. There again, he may have saved himself a lot more than £100m by off-shoring his tax liability to Monaco and commuting to London. And once you've got a billion, what is there to do to win friends and influence people other than to set oneself up as a philanthropist. Oh it must be a tough life.
Cruddas by name, crud by nature.
