The party is touting places for its “distinguished” annual working day at £2,990 a head, saying it will give attendees the chance to interact with “key party decision-makers”. The day includes roundtables with senior party figures, lunch with ministers and then ends with a dinner to be addressed by the new chancellor, who is expected to be Kwasi Kwarteng if Liz Truss wins the Tory leadership. Dinner alone costs £400 a head to attend. “This is your chance to hear from the Conservative party’s core team, put your questions directly to key decision-makers in the party and network with other business leaders,” the party’s marketing material says. Alongside Labor Day, the Tories are also selling companies the chance to exhibit at the party’s conference in Birmingham, which costs upwards of £51,000 for the largest stands. Companies that make this choice promise “ministerial visits from senior cabinet members”. The party boasts that attending the conference gives businesses “access to thousands of party members, influential businesses, the Conservative senior team and more – both in person in Birmingham and globally online”. The Conservatives have long had working days at their conference, but prices have risen sharply since they started charging around £1,000 a head under David Cameron. But the price of the event and the promise of access to ministers could reignite concerns about cash for access and ethical standards that arose under Boris Johnson’s leadership. Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International UK, said: “The search for money for a senior government official reinforces public concerns that cash buys privileged access and influence in our democracy. “The way these top benches are marketed as buying time with ministers can create a perception that you have to pay to be heard in politics. For individuals and businesses struggling with the rising cost of living, this could mean their voices don’t deserve to be heard.” A Conservative spokesman said: “This event is an important opportunity to engage directly with business and highlight how we continue to support businesses and businesses as we recover from the pandemic and face the economic challenges ahead. All political parties hold business events at their conventions, and we’ve been hosting such events at our convention for decades.” Concerns about access could be exacerbated by the Trust’s plans to remove ethics oversight of ministers by abolishing the post of independent adviser on ministerial interests. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. After being pressed several times on the issue of a new ethics adviser at a hustings on Tuesday, Truss said: “I think one of the problems we have in this country in the way we approach things is that we have too many advisers and independent bodies. and rules and regulations. “For me it’s about understanding the difference between right and wrong, and I’m someone who has always acted with integrity […] and that’s what I would do as prime minister.” Chris Bryant, chair of the standards committee and a Labor MP, said he feared Truss was positioning herself as “Boris Johnson second” to standards and ethics. He said the credibility of ethics oversight in politics “is already hanging by a pretty thin thread, as we’ve seen in recent years, and it’s like he wants to cut that last thread.” “That would take us back to a time before cash for questions. If he wants to rewrite this story as a repeat of the 1990s, we know where that ends,” Bryant said.
