Pathetic rebuttal of the week

There's a fine article in The Independent about donations to political parties (as reported to El Comm), which points out that the 'consultants' have greatly increased their donations to the Tories, who are likely to win the next election, and reduced donations them to Labour.

As the article explains, these are 'donations in kind' of seconded staff:

PwC also provides support for Mr Osborne, and two of its staff worked part-time with the Tories on their work and pensions proposals last year. This month, the party revealed that the firm also provided specialist advice and a member of staff for the party's shadow Treasury team.

And here's that rebuttal:

"The firm does not make any cash donations to any political party or other groups with a political agenda," a PwC spokeswoman said. "However, in the interests of the firm and its clients, we seek to maintain constructive and balanced relationships with the main political parties."

IMHO, a straight cash donation seems a lot more above board and honest than sending in some weasels to try and actually influence policy as it is made.

Troughs. Snouts.