Michael Spencer - Revision history

Josh Leeson at 15:40, 24 February 2015

2015-02-24T15:40:56Z

Melissa Jones at 20:32, 26 March 2012

2012-03-26T20:32:01Z

Melissa Jones: /* Dining with the PM ahead of the 50p cut in the 2012 Budget */

2012-03-26T15:31:14Z

Dining with the PM ahead of the 50p cut in the 2012 Budget

Melissa Jones: /* Dining with the PM ahead of the 50p cut */

2012-03-26T15:16:16Z

Dining with the PM ahead of the 50p cut

Melissa Jones: /* Cuts to corporation tax and the 50p rate */

2012-03-26T15:15:26Z

Cuts to corporation tax and the 50p rate

Melissa Jones: /* Cuts to corporation tax and the 50p rate */ 'social dinner' in month before 50p cut announced

2012-03-26T15:14:18Z

Cuts to corporation tax and the 50p rate: 'social dinner' in month before 50p cut announced

Melissa Jones: /* Cuts to corporation tax and the 50p rate */ dinner with the pm

2012-03-26T15:09:10Z

Cuts to corporation tax and the 50p rate: dinner with the pm

Melissa Jones at 12:33, 4 February 2012

2012-02-04T12:33:48Z

Melissa Jones: /* Embarrassing fines */ correct date

2011-12-18T19:46:25Z

Embarrassing fines: correct date

Melissa Jones at 19:45, 18 December 2011

2011-12-18T19:45:20Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:40, 24 February 2015
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	The party's biggest financial services donor was private investment company [[IPGL]] - of which Spencer is the majority shareholder, along with his wife and family trusts. It gave £806,864 to the Tories during Spencer's stint as treasurer. IPGL owns 18 per cent of Icap. Another Spencer offshoot, [[Intercapital Private Group]], donated £365,000, while [[BSN Capital Partners]], a hedge fund that is an associate company of Icap, gave the Tories £170,000. <ref> Zoe Wood, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/08/tory-donors-financial-services-ipgl Conservative party's biggest donors in financial services sector revealed, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 February 2011, acc 18 December 2011 </ref>		The party's biggest financial services donor was private investment company [[IPGL]] - of which Spencer is the majority shareholder, along with his wife and family trusts. It gave £806,864 to the Tories during Spencer's stint as treasurer. IPGL owns 18 per cent of Icap. Another Spencer offshoot, [[Intercapital Private Group]], donated £365,000, while [[BSN Capital Partners]], a hedge fund that is an associate company of Icap, gave the Tories £170,000. <ref> Zoe Wood, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/feb/08/tory-donors-financial-services-ipgl Conservative party's biggest donors in financial services sector revealed, guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 February 2011, acc 18 December 2011 </ref>
		+
		+	Spencer is a member of [[The Leader's Group]], the premier [[Conservative Party]] supporter group. Through an annual membership fee of £50,000 donors are able to secure access to leading members of the party.

	==Exerting pressure for lower taxes==		==Exerting pressure for lower taxes==

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 In the ''Sunday Times Rich List 2008'' ranking of the wealthiest people in the UK he was placed 62nd with an estimated fortune of £1,150 million.<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/richlist ''Sunday Times Rich List 2008'' online edition] </ref>
-Spencer masterminded a dramatic increase in funding from financiers to the Tories ahead of the 2010 general election.
+Spencer masterminded a dramatic increase in funding from financiers to the Tories ahead of the 2010 general election. In total, the Tories raised a spectacular £35.5m in the 10 months beforehand – twice as much as Labour - and cleared their debts.
 ==Conservative Party donor and persuasive City fundraiser==

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 ====Dining with the PM ahead of the 50p cut in the 2012 Budget====
-In March 2012 in the wake of another 'cash for access' ''Sunday Times'' sting operation, this time on Tory party co-treasurer [[Peter Cruddas]], the prime minister [[David Cameron]] published details of "three occasions on which significant donors have come to dinner in my flat". Michael Spencer was one of those donors, having taken his partner to a 'social dinner' with the Camerons at Number 10 on 27 February 2012, <ref> [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/26/cash-for-access-dinner-guest-list http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/26/cash-for-access-dinner-guest-list], guardian.co.uk, 26 March 2012, acc same day </ref> in the final month before the cuts to the 50p tax rate was announced by [[George Osborne]] in the 2012 Budget.
+In March 2012 in the wake of another 'cash for access' ''Sunday Times'' sting operation, this time on Tory party co-treasurer [[Peter Cruddas]], the prime minister [[David Cameron]] published details of "three occasions on which significant donors have come to dinner in my flat". Michael Spencer was one of those donors, having taken his partner to a 'social dinner' with the Camerons at Number 10 on 27 February 2012, <ref> [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/26/cash-for-access-dinner-guest-list http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/26/cash-for-access-dinner-guest-list], guardian.co.uk, 26 March 2012, acc same day </ref> just weeks before the cut to the 50p tax rate was announced by [[George Osborne]] in the 2012 Budget.
 ===Fury at the EU's Financial Transactions Tax===

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 Spencer has also consistently spoken out strongly against the 50p tax rate brought in by the previous Labour government. In the same interview he said: "I believe and I hope and I expect that that will be reversed in the foreseeable future."<ref> Jean Eaglesham and Richard Milne, [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ef8eb79a-dd4e-11de-ad60-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gtzNxika Tory treasurer expects taxes to be slashed], Financial Times, 30 November 2009 </ref>
-====Dining with the PM ahead of the 50p cut====
+====Dining with the PM ahead of the 50p cut in the 2012 Budget====
 In March 2012 in the wake of another 'cash for access' ''Sunday Times'' sting operation, this time on Tory party co-treasurer [[Peter Cruddas]], the prime minister [[David Cameron]] published details of "three occasions on which significant donors have come to dinner in my flat". Michael Spencer was one of those donors, having taken his partner to a 'social dinner' with the Camerons at Number 10 on 27 February 2012, <ref> [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/26/cash-for-access-dinner-guest-list http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/26/cash-for-access-dinner-guest-list], guardian.co.uk, 26 March 2012, acc same day </ref> in the final month before the cuts to the 50p tax rate was announced by [[George Osborne]] in the 2012 Budget.

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 Spencer has also consistently spoken out strongly against the 50p tax rate brought in by the previous Labour government. In the same interview he said: "I believe and I hope and I expect that that will be reversed in the foreseeable future."<ref> Jean Eaglesham and Richard Milne, [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ef8eb79a-dd4e-11de-ad60-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gtzNxika Tory treasurer expects taxes to be slashed], Financial Times, 30 November 2009 </ref>
-In March 2012 in the wake of another 'cash for access' ''Sunday Times'' sting operation, this time on Tory party co-treasurer [[Peter Cruddas]], the prime minister [[David Cameron]] published details of ''three occasions on which significant donors have come to dinner in my flat". Michael Spencer was one of those donors, having taken his partner to a 'social dinner' with the Camerons at Number 10 on 27 February 2012, <ref> [http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/26/cash-for-access-dinner-guest-list http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/26/cash-for-access-dinner-guest-list], guardian.co.uk, 26 March 2012, acc same day </ref> in the final month before the cuts to the 50p tax rate was announced by [[George Osborne]] in the 2012 Budget.
+====Dining with the PM ahead of the 50p cut====
 ===Fury at the EU's Financial Transactions Tax===

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:09, 26 March 2012
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	Spencer has also consistently spoken out strongly against the 50p tax rate brought in by the previous Labour government. In the same interview he said: "I believe and I hope and I expect that that will be reversed in the foreseeable future."<ref> Jean Eaglesham and Richard Milne, [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ef8eb79a-dd4e-11de-ad60-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gtzNxika Tory treasurer expects taxes to be slashed], Financial Times, 30 November 2009 </ref>		Spencer has also consistently spoken out strongly against the 50p tax rate brought in by the previous Labour government. In the same interview he said: "I believe and I hope and I expect that that will be reversed in the foreseeable future."<ref> Jean Eaglesham and Richard Milne, [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ef8eb79a-dd4e-11de-ad60-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gtzNxika Tory treasurer expects taxes to be slashed], Financial Times, 30 November 2009 </ref>
		+
		+	In March 2012 in the wake of another 'cash for access' ''Sunday Times'' sting operation on Tory party co-treasurer [[Peter Cruddas]], the prime minister [[David Cameron]] published details of ''three occasions on which significant donors have come to dinner in my flat". Michael Spencer was one of those donors, having dined with his partner and the Camerons at Number 10 in November 2011.

	===Fury at the EU's Financial Transactions Tax===		===Fury at the EU's Financial Transactions Tax===

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:33, 4 February 2012
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	<references/>		<references/>

−	[[Category:Financial sector lobbying]][[Category:Conservative Party Donors]]	+	[[Category:Financial sector lobbying\|Spencer, Michael]][[Category:Conservative Party Donors\|Spencer, Michael]]

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 ==Embarrassing fines==
-In March 2011 Spencer's spread-betting firm [[City Index Group|City Index]] was fined £490,000 by the regulator, the [[Financial Services Authority]] (FSA) 'for failing to report thousands of trades and incorrectly reporting nearly 2million more'.  Sixty per cent of trades completed by the company between November 2007 and September 2009 had been "improperly" reported.
+In January 2011 Spencer's spread-betting firm [[City Index Group|City Index]] was fined £490,000 by the regulator, the [[Financial Services Authority]] (FSA) 'for failing to report thousands of trades and incorrectly reporting nearly 2million more'.  Sixty per cent of trades completed by the company between November 2007 and September 2009 had been "improperly" reported.
 :"This failure is a serious breach of our rules because it can have a damaging impact on our ability to detect and investigate suspected market abuse," said Margaret Cole, the FSA's director of enforcement and financial crime. The regulator said the penalty would have been £700,000 but was commuted because the company agreed to settle early. The failings came to light only after the FSA queried some of the reports being sent to it by City Index, leading to the discovery that 1.97m trades had been incorrectly reported over a period of nearly two years.

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 More recently he has made clear his fury at plans for the proposed 'Tobin' tax that would charge a fee for every financial transaction. In August 2011 he said such a tax would be prohibitively expensive, and that he was prepared to relocate ICAP out of the UK if European leaders pushed ahead with plans to introduce this financial transaction tax.
-:"This tax would destroy the City and cost the Exchequer billions, but it would benefit Brussels. Companies like ICAP will simply move elsewhere outside the EU if Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel push ahead with this silly tax." <ref>Louise Armitstead,[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8714604/Icap-boss-Spencers-fury-over-EU-transaction-tax-plans.html Icap boss Spencer's fury over EU transaction tax plans],  22 Aug 2011, acc 18 December 2011 </ref>
+:"This tax would destroy the City and cost the Exchequer billions, but it would benefit Brussels. Companies like ICAP will simply move elsewhere outside the EU if Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel push ahead with this silly tax." <ref>Louise Armitstead, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8714604/Icap-boss-Spencers-fury-over-EU-transaction-tax-plans.html Icap boss Spencer's fury over EU transaction tax plans],  22 Aug 2011, acc 18 December 2011 </ref>
 ==Keeping the City sweet for the Tories==
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 :"This failure is a serious breach of our rules because it can have a damaging impact on our ability to detect and investigate suspected market abuse," said Margaret Cole, the FSA's director of enforcement and financial crime. The regulator said the penalty would have been £700,000 but was commuted because the company agreed to settle early. The failings came to light only after the FSA queried some of the reports being sent to it by City Index, leading to the discovery that 1.97m trades had been incorrectly reported over a period of nearly two years.
-City Index told the ''Telegraph'' newspaper that what the FSA described as "fundamental errors" were caused by a new IT system and said its faults were "historical errors". "[We have] introduced improvements which will ensure that the error is not repeated. City Index is fully compliant with the FSA's rules on transaction reporting and no client was affected." <ref>By Harry Wilson, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8272659/FSA-fines-City-Index-490000-for-trading-reporting-errors.html FSA fines City Index £490,000 for trading reporting errors], Telegraph, 21 Jan 2011 </ref>
+City Index told the ''Telegraph'' newspaper that what the FSA described as "fundamental errors" were caused by a new IT system and said its faults were "historical errors". "[We have] introduced improvements which will ensure that the error is not repeated. City Index is fully compliant with the FSA's rules on transaction reporting and no client was affected." <ref>Harry Wilson, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8272659/FSA-fines-City-Index-490000-for-trading-reporting-errors.html FSA fines City Index £490,000 for trading reporting errors], Telegraph, 21 Jan 2011 </ref>
 ==Notes==