Political funding - Tribunals must finish their work

POLITICAL fundraising has always been a murky business, carried out by the very smoothest party apparatchiks on the fringes where business and politics collude.

It can throw a blanket of suspicion over any politician — no matter how squeaky clean — forced to admit they have benefited from substantial patronage.

The “no-strings-attached” blather is never as convincing as anyone who can spell “planning” would wish.