4. Letter
to the Commissioner from Mr Julian Brazier (without enclosures),
8 May 2007
Thank you for your letter of 6th April with regard
to the complaint by John Mann MP and Kevan Jones MP. Let me say
immediately that my Patrons Club does raise funds for the party,
although it is also a social organisation and provides me with
contacts useful for my constituency work. It has no written aims
and, although it has a bank account, publishes no separate formal
accounts. Its members, of whom there approximately twenty at any
one time, are recruited at my personal invitation—there
is no recruitment literature. I attach a copy of a typical letter
inviting individuals to join.
Members pay an annual fee of £250 for which
they receive invitations to two engagements a year, one a dinner
in the House of Commons and the other a cocktail party, usually
at my home, together with a personal and exclusive quarterly newsletter—I
enclose the latest copy.
The surplus which the Patrons Club makes each year,
typically £2-3,000 is simply transferred into the Association
accounts each year.
I did, indeed, sponsor the event on 18th April. My
understanding has been that the distinction between a direct and
indirect fundraising event is that the former involves a specific
charge for the event, whereas the latter does not. (Indeed it
is hard to think what else the distinction could mean.) We have
never charged any separate fee for the annual dinner, other than
cost price for additional (i.e. second and subsequent) guests.
On the Monday before the event, I received advice
via Party channels that the use of the House of Commons Dining
Rooms would no longer be suitable for Patrons Clubs because a
tightening in interpretation was occurring. It being too late
to cancel or move the event, I notified members that evening that
this was likely to be the last occasion that we could meet in
the House of Commons, something we all felt was rather sad.
On a separate point, I would be most grateful for
your ruling on a second body for which I book rooms twice a year,
the Canterbury Industrial Consultative Council. This is a freestanding
body which has existed for at least 30 years although the staff
in my Association office until a few months ago provided its secretariat.
I attach a copy of its articles, aims and objects, document and
recent accounts.
Unlike the Patrons Club, members of the CICC do not
have to be members of the Conservative party and none of the CICC
officers hold office in my Conservative Association. The organisation
has never been primarily a fund-raising one. Over the years its
distance from the Association has increased. Originally, it simply
transferred any surpluses to the Association in lieu of an administration
fee.
Over the last few years, the CICC has instead paid
a small administrative fee split between the Association Agent
and his secretary for administering it. Following the departure
of his secretary, Councillor Ann Taylor, from the Association
office last year, it was decided that she would take charge of
this and such payments in future will be made direct to her alone.
From time to time the CICC has continued to make
donations, usually in the form of equipment to my Association.
I see that in the past five years there have been two such donations,
one for £2,720 in August 2004 and one for £917 in February
of this year. I understand that the CICC has also taken at an
advertisement in our Association Ball programme during the last
two years. I do not think any member would see it as a fund-raising
body for the Conservatives.
I hope that this is helpful. As the CICC are here
early next month, they would be grateful for an early indication
from yourself on their use of Dining Room A.
8 May 2007
5. Sample
letter of invitation to join Mr Brazier's Patrons' Club (without
attachment)
I am writing to ask whether you might be interested
in joining the Canterbury Conservatice Patrons Club.
The Club provides its members and their guests with
an enjoyable focus for political interest. Membership is limited
and by my personal invitation and the annual cost is £250
per annum—or a greater sum, at the discretion of the member.
The Club meets twice a year—once in the spring
with a dinner for members and their spouses in Parliament and
once in the summer or autumn for a cocktail party in the constituency,
usually at my home. At previous dinners in the House we have been
privileged to have senior figures from the Shadow Cabinet as well
as more general speakers such as the late Alan Clark and the redoubtable
Daphne Park (one of MI6's top agents). Our next meeting will be
a dinner in the House of Commons on 9th March 2005.
I write personally to Club members four times a year
and attach a copy of my most recent letter.
