May ambushed in parliament over Tories’ extensive links to shady research firm Cambridge Analytica
Theresa May was ambushed in parliament over Tory links to shady political research firm Cambridge Analytica (CA). It’s reported that the party received more than £700,000 ($985,000) in donations from a director of the company.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, SNP leader Ian Blackford asked May if she agreed that "subverting the democratic political process is unacceptable." May replied that this was something that "everyone in the house [parliament] would accept."
Blackford then listed the Tory-CA ties for MPs, stating “... that the parent company of CA… has been run by a chairman of Oxford Conservative Association. Its funding chairman was a former Conservative MP. A director has donated over £700,000 to the Tory party. A former Conservative Party treasurer is a shareholder. We know the links to the Conservative Party go on and on.”
Theresa May assured her fellow MP that there are "no current contracts" between the Tory party and CA or its parent company SCL Group – formerly known as Strategic Communication Laboratories.
A spokesman for Theresa May has admitted that the Conservative Party did hold initial talks with CA, but no action was taken. The government is now looking across departments to see if there are any expired contracts with CA or SCL.
Executives of Cambridge Analytica were caught on camera by undercover journalists from Channel 4, explaining the dubious methods the company could use to help clients. The services included entrapping rival political candidates in fake bribery stings and hiring prostitutes to seduce them.
In one recording, the company’s CEO Alexander Nix can be seen telling undercover reporters: “It sounds a dreadful thing to say, but these are things that don’t necessarily need to be true as long as they’re believed.”
Channel 4 News’ expose came two days after The Observer reported that Cambridge Analytica had unauthorized access to millions of Facebook profiles in one of the social media network’s biggest ever data breaches.
Nix is now suspended from CA but is reportedly already moving on to another communications company with Rebekah and Jennifer Mercer – daughters of hedge-fund tycoon Robert Mercer, who funneled significant funds into Donald Trump’s election campaign.
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