Wednesday, 7 August 2013

Sometimes you get what you pay for

From The Evening Standard:

Labour's rising star Chuka Umunna was accused of hypocrisy today for accepting a £20,000 donation from a gambling tycoon while publicly attacking the number of betting shops [in his own constituency]...

Conservatives claimed the shadow business secretary was guilty of double standards for accepting the sum from Neil Goulden, chairman emeritus of the Gala Coral Group, one of Britain's biggest bookmaker and leisure chains.


There are no double standards here. From the point of view of the donor, this is actually entirely consistent and coherent and Chucky was at all times acting in Gala Coral's best interests.

According to the article, Gala Coral already has two betting shops in Chucky's constituency, so Gala Coral has every interest in ensuring that no further licences are granted, thus ensuring that its market share is not diluted by new, competing businesses.

2 comments:

Bob E said...

Do you suppose Chuka takes advice on "policy stances" from Hazel Blears?

Mark Wadsworth said...

BE, I suppose so.

He probably supports young unemployed doing "placements" sweeping up betting shops but doesn't like graduates doing "internships" in the legal department at head office.