Posts Tagged ‘John McCaffrey’

Behind the scenes, Labour HQ is in tumult

14/11/2013, 04:04:27 PM

More upheaval at Labour HQ. It is barely a month since the latest restructure saw general secretary Iain McNicol supplanted by the new campaigns director, Spencer Livermore, as manager of the party’s seven executive directors. Now comes the news that the director responsible for fundraising, John McCaffrey, is leaving after just over a year in job and that Chris Lennie, former assistant general secretary, will be returning as a “consultant” to work on external relations.

These latest changes might sound like back-room tinkering, but they are the outward manifestation of debilitating instability behind the scenes in Brewer’s Green. Two points are pertinent.

First, John McCaffrey’s departure could barely be more ill-timed. On the day that the latest electoral commission figures revealed Labour to be £12.3m in debt, the party lost its lead fundraiser.

John McCaffrey was only appointed in June 2012 and had already had a significant impact. Between September 2012 (the earliest it’s reasonable to expect McCaffrey to have made a difference) and September 2013, the party raised £3.5m from individuals, companies and limited liability partnerships. In comparison, for the year September 2011 to September 2012, it was £2.1m.

A 67% improvement in a year is hardly trivial and with the party so deep in debt, it is remarkable that the man who helped drive this growth in donations is on his way out.

John McCaffrey’s ongoing  financial importance was underlined in the small print announcing his departure, “John will continue to work with some key supporters for us as a consultant.” Or in other words, some donors won’t give unless McCaffrey is involved, so the party will have to keep paying him.

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Labour seeks divine inspiration for new funds

23/07/2012, 07:00:45 AM

Labour’s belated appointment of a commercial director finally completes the new senior management team. Given the parlous state of the party finances, this is perhaps the most important appointment of all.

Broadening Labour’s donor base to attract corporate funds is essential not just to tackle the party’s debt, but to deepen Labour’s ties with business. Last year in 2011, total donations from individuals, companies and limited liability partnerships to the party were just £1.2m – 6% of total income of £19,316,555.

It’s a tough challenge and into this breach has stepped John McCaffrey.  His track record in raising funds is exemplary: several millions of pounds secured over the past few years. For a role such as fundraising, it is the only metric that counts.

But McCaffrey is in one sense a novel appointment. The official Labour press statement seems straightforward enough,

“John McCaffrey is a leading international fundraiser with years of experience which will be of enormous benefit to the Party. He has worked widely raising very substantial funds across the education, arts and museums sector in the UK and the US.”

But it doesn’t highlight a key element of McCaffrey’s CV.

In the past, Labour’s money men have been sympathetic businessmen, happy to tap their network of contacts. Lord Levy was a case study, and David Cameron’s Eton contemporary, Andrew Feldman, performs a similar role for the Tories.

In contrast, McCaffrey’s background is the church. The Catholic Church to be specific. He has personally raised gargantuan amounts for Catholic causes including $5m in 2006 towards the renovation of the Pauline chapel in the Vatican which has two of Michelangelo’s final frescos and £6.5m towards the cost of the papal visit to Britain in 2010.

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