Cash For Access

Remember good old Tory sleaze ? Archer, Hamilton, cash for questions - and an assortment of sex scandals, from the Alan Clarks and David Mellors to the guy with the orange in his mouth and the MP with the eighteen year old hostess as his researcher ?

The second issue's no problem for Labour - just front it out. So the foreign secretary felt able to house his mistress in Carlton House Gardens at the taxpayer's expense, Ben Bradshaw's significant other travels abroad with him (while we pick up the tab), and an MP who posts snaps of himself in his Calvins on a contact website, advertising for a good hard ****, reacts to questions with 'so what ?'.

And quite right too, you may think. Though Labour still seem to think sex is a problem when Tories are involved.

But in the real sleaze department Labour are making the Tories look like rank amateurs - which in a sense they were. Tory sleaze was a series of isolated acts carried out by individuals, which people like the Guardian replay again and again (for example, 11 Archer stories in the Guardian in one month last year).

According to Scotland on Sunday, Labour are more professional. Not only that, but they've managed to coopt one very senior Tory as well.

"It appears that if you want to have dinner with the likes of Mrs Tony Blair these days, £16,000 is the price tag.

That is the annual sum being charged by a remarkable new venture about to be launched in Scotland, which promises a unique chance for the elite of the business world to mix it with Britain’s most powerful political names.

Meet the stiff entry requirements, stump up the cash and you gain entry to regular lunches and dinners with a veritable A-list of stars, including Cherie Blair, Gordon Brown, Alastair Campbell, Michael Howard, Lord Robertson and Douglas Alexander.

Is the Tory chairman happy for the party leader to be on this list ?

Those behind the new club believe it will be the perfect opportunity for elite business-types in Edinburgh and Glasgow to glad-hand with the influential."

The cash-for-access venture has been created by Baroness Mary Goudie, vice-chair of the Labour peers in the House of Lords.

Goudie herself rose to prominence in 1998 after being given access to another exclusive club by Prime Minister Tony Blair - the House of Lords.

The Labour donor had already become a key networker in London and Scotland as a public affairs consultant and as a major player in the voluntary sector.

Do we forget our friends in the media ?

BBC political editor Andrew Marr and world affairs editor John Simpson are lined up to speak, as is comic Clive Anderson and new BBC chairman Michael Grade.

What benefits will these people get for their 16K ?

"Not only will your network multiply overnight, but you will also have unique access to, and interface with, some of the most powerful figures in today’s national and international arenas who will be guest speakers at our monthly events," she writes.

"These world-class speakers will share their views and briefings on current topics and give members access to a sphere of influence that is normally restricted and, we believe, unavailable anywhere else."

"The idea, in a nutshell, is to give you the most informed view of what’s happening in today’s business world in order to help share exponential success tomorrow."

Nothing, it seems, is too much for her clients. Greeting them for lunches or dinners - to be held in Edinburgh and Glasgow - will be Michael Shea, former press secretary to HM the Queen. Members will be able to request that they sit next to particular people in order to make the right inroads.

"We can also set up one-to-one meetings between most speakers and members," Aeolus’ promotional material adds. And what’s more, the group "can advise on making formal approaches to the public sector, regulators and politicians".

Although there is no suggestion of illegality, the revelation that Scottish business people are being offered the chance to pay to have access to some of the most influential people in Britain is bound to raise questions about elitism and cronyism.

You coul say that. Just a bit.