Constitutional Research Council
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The Constitutional Research Council (CRC) is a Unionist funding organisation, chaired by Scottish Conservative Richard Cook. It helped to fund the anti-independence Better Together campaign during the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 and the DUP's Leave campaign in Northern Ireland , and in mainland Britain, during the Brexit referendum in 2016. [1] The CRC made a record-breaking donation to the DUP's leave campaign of £435,000, which was mainly used to fund advertising on the UK mainland. [2]
The CRC has also funded the European Research Group and its chairman, the Brexit minister Steve Baker . [3]
The CRC has no website, publishes no accounts and does not reveal the names of its donors. The only office-holder to be made public is the chairman Richard Cook, a former vice-chairman of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party , parliamentary candidate in Glasgow Cathcart in 2003 and at the 2005 by-election , and a supporter of The Freedom Association . [4] Cook has had business connections with Prince Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud , the former Saudi minister for finance, government spokesman, diplomat and head of intelligence, and the Danish arms dealer Peter Haestrup who has been linked to a gun running case in West Bengal described by Indian authorities as “the biggest crime in the country's history". [5]
According to Cook, the CRC are prepared to help fund the anti-independence campaign during any proposed second Scottish independence referendum . [6]
See also
References
- ↑ Ramsay, Adam; Geoghegan, Peter (16 October 2017). "Mystery deepens over secret source of Brexit 'dark money' " . openDemocracyUK . London: openDemocracy . Retrieved 24 October 2017 .
- ↑ Learmonth, Andrew; Geoghegan, Peter (17 May 2020). "Tory dark money donor Richard Cook's Union campaign funding boast" . The National . Retrieved 24 July 2020 .
- ↑ Doward, Jamie (1 July 2017). "Brexit minister linked to group that used loophole to channel £435,000 to DUP" . The Observer . Guardian News and Media . Retrieved 25 October 2017 .
- ↑ Hutcheon, Paul (21 May 2017). "Richard Cook: chair of the shadowy Constitutional Research Council talks to the Sunday Herald" . Sunday Herald . Glasgow . Retrieved 25 October 2017 .
- ↑ O’Toole, Fintan (16 May 2017). "What connects Brexit, the DUP, dark money and a Saudi prince?" . The Irish Times . Dublin . Retrieved 25 October 2017 .
- ↑ Johnson, Simon (5 March 2017). "Business leaders 'ready to donate six-figure sums to save UK' in second Scottish referendum" . The Telegraph . Retrieved 25 October 2017 .
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