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[newthinking]

26. Lord Ashcroft's polls are not what they seem - The Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11401622/Lord-Ashcrofts-polls-are-not-what-they-seem.html


Lord Ashcroft is a former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party



And, in fact, there is no such thing as “The Ashcroft Poll”. Lord Ashcroft is not a pollster. He buys in polling from other companies, and then publishes the results. He says he uses several companies, but declines to name which ones. They are, he says, all members of the British Polling Council. But according to the New Statesman, his polls have now been dropped from Sky’s regular election poll of polls, because he personally is not a member.

It’s also odd that Lord Ashcroft’s increasing influence has coincided with increasing general concern over the influence of big money in the British political process. Although he holds joint British citizenship, until 2010 Lord Ashcroft was domiciled in Belize for UK tax purposes. He has also been a major financial donor to the Liberal party in Australia. Yet again, Lord Ashcroft seems to have evaded the scrutiny that would normally be directed at someone buying such an overt stake in British politics.

And it’s not just polling he’s bought up. He owns or has owned political web-sites, publishing houses, magazines. After I’d first met him, one MP who is a friend of his told me “yes, that’s what Michael does. He tries to collect people”.