Does Anyone Feel Uneasy When We Find Out That Political Parties And Newspapers Collude To Lie To The Voting Public?

[sp1814]

Are we happy that this is just part of the election process...

...or should we be concerned that what is dressed up as a news story is in fact (for want of a better phrase) - party political cobblers?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/27/how-the-conservatives-orchestrate-letters-from-business-leaders

[sp1814]

naomi24

It's just just duplicated names - there are also a number of people who have signed it who are clearly not small business owners - and then there are Tory party candidates who have added their names!

But overall, the 'letter' was presented as something generated independently of the Conservatives (note the omission of any reference that this came from Comservative Central Office)!

[icecreamicecream]

SP...Just reading between the lines,old boy.Just reading between the lines.

[slaney]

This is a link to the 60-odd companies who allegedly signed the letter, and who were on the original list, but in fact turn out to have been dissolved - one as long ago as 1986.
I presume they have now been removed from the Telegraph's (updated) list, and that was the reason for the temporary disappearance of the link.

If you click on the URL to the right of each one it leads you to the company check website where the status can be seen.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IHSwpG9QB8CifEYyhPQB4SnAJ0scriGMQeN1ltfVqBo/edit?pli=1#gid=1373213005

[naomi24]

SP, I don’t know how you know who owns small businesses and who does not – there’s nothing to prevent a Tory party candidate from owning a business – but whatever, I doubt the 5000 plus people who signed the letter were unaware of its source so I can’t see the problem in it having emanated from Conservative Central Office. Who else would you expect to organise support on such a large scale?

This was Labour’s response to a previous letter published in early April and signed by 100 or so business leaders.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/labour-hits-back-in-business-row-with-letter-from-the-people-but-faces-accusations-of-hypocrisy-as-zerohours-boss-is-among-backers-10150092.html