A welcome hand
- 7 Sep 07, 11:02 AM
The assignation took place in a yacht off the Italian coast. One of Britain's richest men had invited a senior government minister, who was holidaying nearby, to join him for lunch.
Johan Eliasch had a proposal to make to Jack Straw. He wanted to offer his advice to the government on climate change. His interest in the subject came as no surprise. After all, he had bought 400,000 acres of the Amazon rainforest to protect it from destruction and to combat climate change. He was also the founder of Cool Earth - a charity which encourages others to do the same, half an acre at a time (yours for just 拢35). The surprise came because Mr Eliasch had also lent over two and a half of his many millions to the Conservative Party and was their deputy treasurer.
It's clear, though, that for some time he'd wondered whether he was in with the right crowd. Mr Eliasch had got to know Labour ministers since launching his initiative to save the rainforest. He'd met Mr Straw at various functions and, after the two bumped into each other at a conference in Aspen, offered him a lift on his private jet.
He began to grumble out loud to Tory and non-Tory friends that David Cameron had not stuck to the course of occupying the centre ground on which he'd first set himself. I suspect that "lurch to the right" is a phrase he's never used nor would since he was a backer of Messrs Hague, Duncan Smith and Howard.
Friends and foes alike say that Mr Eliasch had hoped for a peerage although no-one suggests that he actually asked for one. Indeed David Cameron told me in an interview last week that no approach had been made to him about a peerage.
It's clear too that a man who was used to mixing with the rich and powerful came to the realisation that oppositions can only talk whilst governments can do. Hence, his proposal to Jack Straw on that yacht in the Med that he should advise the government on climate change.
It was, I'm told, Mr Eliasch's idea that he should let his membership of the Tory Party lapse when it expires next month. He has always expected his loan to the Conservatives to be re-paid although he is not demanding that it be repaid straight away and has set no timetable for it. He will not join the Labour Party nor give or loan it money.
Mr Eliasch would like this to be seen as a decision about the planet and not about politics. Not so, unsurprisingly, Team Brown who would like it to be seen as an indictment of David Cameron.
What this episode proves to me is how a prime minister who has unparalleled patronage can use it not just to get good advice but to undermine his political opponents. It proves too that David Cameron has a long way to go before he convinces the entire Conservative family - let alone many others - that he will soon be in No 10 with jobs to hand out. Perhaps it will teach him that anyone he treats a little carelessly may find that Gordon Brown is happy to offer a welcome hand.
The Tories claim that Labour has approached many other Conservative donors and MPs to switch sides. Team Brown deny that emphatically - pointing out that, if they had, one of those who snubbed them would have gone public by now. They do, however, say with a knowing smile that Mr Eliasch may not be the last.
