Counting the cash

Here’s a fun thing for a cold, dark evening - browsing the Electoral Commission’s register of donations to political parties. This, for example, is the breakdown for the Lib Dems for each of the past six years.

2001 = 312 donations with an overall total of £1,537,428.32
2002 = 247 donations with an overall total of £937,629.10
2003 = 386 donations with an overall total of £2,964,902.85
2004 = 445 donations with an overall total of £3,889,052.56
2005 = 646 donations with an overall total of £6,934,233.53
2006 = 545 donations with an overall total of £4,912,266.14

Encouraging to see a generally upward trend over the last six years; and in particular the healthy £4.9m of donations last year - an especially impressive total given both the, erm, challenging year the party endured, and the stage of the electoral cycle we’re at (just compare it with 2002’s total).

Of course, the real fun to be had is from nosing through the list looking for names you recognise...