According to Snowflake 5’s analysis of the wealth of the Tory shadow cabinet (19 out of 29 being millionaires) Francis Maude is worth £3 million. It shows the scale of the challenge I have standing in Horsham because according to some rough calculations I have done that makes him worth about £3 million more than me…
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But surely the tories don’t buy votes?
I can’t decide if I’m too naive or too cynical for politics – is it possible to be both at once?
It makes me wonder what the combined fortunes of WSCC’s Deputy Lieutenants add up to (you know, the ones who pull Henry ‘Wannabee MP’ plonker regarding Pro-Huting and Anti-National Park) :
Duke of Norfolk (Arundel Castle)
Earl March – future Duke of Richmond (Goodwood House)
Viscount Cowdray – Pearson (Cowdray Park & Parham House)
Lord Leconfield (Petworth House) etc etc
Methinks Francis Maude’s £3 million is loose change…and makes me feel…very poor – financially speaking.
Not all of West Sussex’s Deputy Lieutenants are Tory (or not when I last looked) as one of them is Lord Navnit Dholaki – the recent past President of the Lib Dems!
But it does sound as if they are all comfortably wealthy (or stinking rich…) at the very least.
Oh, come on Gordon, you can do better than that surely ?!
Of course there are a couple of non-Tory’s like your Lord Dholakia & Margaret Collins, and Labour’s own Doug Mayne, but the vast majority of WSCC Deputy Lieutenants are die-hard Tory, crypto-Tory and Fellow-Travelling Tory.
The Lord Lieutenants Office is a major ‘portal to power’ – probably Freemason-based – and its (undemocratic) influence should not be under-estimated.
Doug Mayne is the only Deputy Lefty I know and he would be surprised to be called comfortably wealthy.
I don’t think the job is a portal to power, as Richard puts it. Most seem to do it as a hobby after a career rather than a as a stepping stone to anything else, and often at some personal expense.
I didn’t think prospective Labour MP’s could be so naive 😉
I’ll take that as a compliment as I am making a conscious effort to be less cynical… I still think that Deputy Lefty is more a reward for past achievements (or favours) in much the same way as the honours system.
And like most of the obscure honours it means nothing to anyone outside a little self-contained, inward-looking group.
I don’t think it brings any power, except a little deference from some quarters. The post is a harmless anachronism, and there are bigger things to worry about.
Indeed, Skuds, “there are bigger things to worry about” – but if there are future street riots in Broadfield because of house re-possessions, council tax hikes etc, just remember from where the call is made to call in the tanks and troops.