Chris Huhne

£81,000 spent on four lawyers to clear Ashcroft – Huhne

The Electoral Commission consulted four lawyers – two Queen’s Counsel and two junior counsel – at a total cost of £81,000 before it cleared Lord Ashcroft’s donations to the Conservative Party through Bearwood Corporate Services, according to a Parliamentary answer to the Liberal Democrats.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

“It is appalling that the Electoral Commission has had to go to four different lawyers, on top of its own legal team, at a total cost of £81,000 before they got the answer that they wanted, which was to give the all clear to Lord Ashcroft’s dodgy donations.

“The Electoral Commission should now publish all the legal advice so that others can make a judgement about whether to challenge this decision in the courts.

“This smacks of the sort of legal tourism we saw in the Government over the illegal war in Iraq and at Lehman’s before it collapsed, where some lawyers wouldn’t give the opinion they wanted so they moved on until they found one who would.”

Notes to Editors:

The Parliamentary answer is below:

Mr Chris Huhne (Eastleigh): To ask the honourable Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, from which (a) legal firms (b) Queen’s Counsel and (c) other sources the Electoral Commission sought advice in connection with its investigation into Bearwood Corporate Services; and how much was paid for such advice in each case. [322506].

Mr Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that in addition to legal advice from its in-house Legal Counsel, it also obtained legal advice from Queen’s Counsel, Michael Beloff QC and Andrew Mitchell QC; and from junior barristers, Jane Collier and Sarah Palin. Payments to Queen’s Counsel amounted to £61,000 and payments to junior counsel amounted to £20,000.