The 1997 election campaign will be the most extravagant contest in real terms since the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act in 1883 curtailed corruption and introduced limits on election expenditure. British campaigning may still be cheap compared to the US (where enormous sums are devoted to television advertising, which parties in Britain are not allowed to use), but its costs are rising. Spending in 1997 will not only exceed that of recent elections, it will also beat in real terms the most lavish Conservative efforts of the past in the 1929, 1935 and 1964 elections. And this ignores the millions to be spent by Sir James Goldsmith, the billionaire founder of the Referendum party. So how are the parties raising the money for this unpreced-ented level of expenditure?
CONSERVATIVES
The funding of the Conservative party is shrouded in secrecy. Conservative central office is exempt from the disclosure requirements of company law (unlike the Labour party), due to its peculiar legal status as the personal office of the party leader. Since 1993 more details of the party’s finances have been published annually, but the source of much income remains unknown.
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