Michael Ashcroft was right to say he will resign as deputy chairman of the Tory party after the election. His presence has been an embarrassment. If you wish to own a political party in Britain, you should at least have the good manners to pay all your taxes in Britain. Yet the saga reflects shockingly on Dave, who was derelict in allegedly not asking the question about Ashcroft's tax status; and it also damages Ashcroft's close crony William Hague. How can we be happy to be ruled by people of such abominable judgment? What else do they know about, but choose not to tell us? This is not a matter just for the Westminster village: it should offend every Tory in the country.
Martin Ivens, Sunday Times
David Cameron had two opportunities to put the matter behind him. He could have asked questions about Ashcroft's status on becoming leader. And after the expenses scandal broke last year, when the Tory leader won acclaim for telling his MPs who had abused the system to pay the money back, he had an ideal opportunity to get the moneybags to fess up.
As the cynical Frenchman put it, Cameron has not committed a crime; he has done something far worse: he's made a mistake. The voters may have written off the moral credentials of the current crop of politicians but they do require basic competence... "This has operational consequences," argues a former Tory minister. "Cameron and Hague are putting on a Laurel and Hardy show when we should be looking to the size of our majority."
Matthew D'Ancona, Sunday Telegraph
I agree with those who say that the specifics of the Ashcroft case will be quickly forgotten. But the damage is already done. The process is incremental: the Deripaska affair and George Osborne's yacht-fondling, Zac Goldsmith's non-dom status, the Joanne Cash episode, and Sir Nicholas Winterton's declaration that standard-class rail passengers are "a totally different type of people". Each story does a little more to confirm the voters' residual fear that the Tory party is a political front for a gang of people who want to govern so they can do what the hell they like. Whether or not the fear is justified is irrelevant. It is an electoral reality, and one which should be uppermost in every Tory's mind. Ashcroft should have followed his own advice. And Cameron should have insisted on full disclosure years ago … gentlemen: smell the coffee.
