Former Tory MP David Mackintosh failed to declare source of political donations, court told

Published

11 months ago

October 24, 2023

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A former Tory MP failed to declare where he received £39,000 in political donations from, a crown court jury has heard.

David Mackintosh, who represented Northampton South between 2015 and 2017, is alleged to have accepted three donations of £10,000 and six of £1,500 that were made in an allegedly “underhand way”, Warwick Crown Court was told on Tuesday.

Mr Mackintosh, the former lead of Northampton Borough Council, is standing trial alongside property developer Howard Grossman, who is accused of using third parties to conceal the source of the nine separate donations to the Northampton South Conservative Association.

Mr Mackintosh and Mr Grossman both deny two counts of failing to ensure details were provided in relation to political donations during 2014.

Prosecutor William Boyce KC said the donations had been made through other people without properly declaring they were from Mr Grossman.

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The prosecutor said Mr Grossman “donated £39,000 to Mr Mackintosh’s fighting fund not in his own name… pretending in essence that they [other people] were the donors”.

He alleged Mr Grossman did not want it to be known that he was the source of the funds.

“They were close friends and they worked together,” Mr Boyce said. “The case against Mr Mackintosh is that he received those donations knowing that Mr Grossman was doing it in that underhand way.”

Mr Boyce said Mr Grossman had become friends with Mackintosh after they both worked on a project to develop Northampton Town football club’s Sixfields Stadium, which was funded by council loans.

“On Mr Mackintosh’s case, Mr Grossman’s generosity must have extended to helping him… without telling his friend what he was doing,” Mr Boyce said.

“This case is not about why he [Grossman] wished to donate money – it’s about the methodology he employed in doing so. The prosecution do not have to prove why he did it.”

Mr Boyce said Mr Grossman and Mr Mackintosh met for the first time in 2012 after the former began discussions with the owners of Northampton Town about redeveloping Sixfields Stadium.

The court was told that a year later, the borough council resolved to lend the football club up to £12m.

Mr Boyce said Mr Grossman then became involved in a fundraiser for Mr Mackintosh at London’s Carlton Club in November 2014 – which charged guests £295 each – showcasing their close relationship.

The court was told that when Mr Mackintosh was interviewed by the police in March 2018 he answered “no comment” to the questions asked of him, but said in a statement that two other councillors had also benefitted from funds donated to the local Conservatives.

Mr Grossman also provided investigators with a prepared statement, saying he was “genuinely impressed” by Mr Mackintosh and wished to support him, having first met him in June 2013.

The trial continues.

Politics

Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer ‘very sensible’ to accept football tickets worth thousands

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Lisa Nandy says Sir Keir Starmer 'very sensible' to accept football tickets worth thousands

Lisa Nandy has said Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to accept thousands of pounds worth of football tickets was “very sensible”.

The minister for culture, media and sport also said she had never accepted free clothes from a donor.

Speaking to Sky News at the start of the Labour Party conference today, the MP for Wigan said: “The problem that has arisen since [Sir Keir] became leader of the opposition and then prime minister is that for him to sit in the stands would require a huge security detail, would be disruptive for other people and it would cost the taxpayer a lot of money.

“So I think he’s taken a very sensible decision that’s not the right and appropriate thing to do, and it’s right to accept that he has to go and sit in a different area.

“But I know that he’d much rather be sitting in the stands cheering people on with the usual crowd that he’s been going to the football with for years.”

Ms Nandy also said while she has not accepted free clothes – joking “I think you can probably see that I choose my own clothes sadly” – she doesn’t “make any judgements about what other members of parliament do”.

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She said: “The only judgement I would make is if they’re breaking the rules, so they’re trying to hide what they’re doing. That’s when problems arise.

“Because the point of being open and transparent is that people can see where the relationships are, and they can then judge for themselves whether there’s been any undue influence.”

She asserted there had not been an undue influence in gifts accepted by senior Labour figures, adding: “We don’t want the news and the commentary to be dominated by conversations about clothes.

“We rightly have a system, I think, where the taxpayer doesn’t fund these things. We don’t claim on expenses for them. And so MPs will always take donations, will always take gifts in kind.

“MPs of all political parties have historically done that and that is the system that we have.”

She added: “I don’t think there’s any suggestion here that Keir Starmer has broken any rules. I don’t think there’s any suggestion that he’s done anything wrong.

“We expect our politicians to be well turned out, we expect them to be people who go out and represent us at different events and represent the country at different events and are clothed appropriately.

“But the point is that when we accept donations for that or for anything else, that we declare them and we’re open and transparent about them.”

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Sir Keir, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves said yesterday they will no longer accept donations in the future to pay for clothes.

The announcement followed criticism of Sir Keir’s gifts from donors, which included clothing worth £16,200 and multiple pairs of glasses worth £2,485, according to the MPs’ register of interests.

The register shows Ms Rayner has accepted clothing donations to the value of £2,230.

Sky News also revealed the scale of Sir Keir’s donations this week as part of our Westminster Accounts investigation.

Sir Keir was found to have received substantially more gifts and freebies than any other MP – his total in gifts, benefits, and hospitality topped £100,000 since December 2019.