Lorraine Platt finally reveals identity of Blue Fox financiers

Lorraine Platt, Director of Conservatives Against Fox Hunting (CAFH) and the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF) has finally revealed the identity of the animal rights organisations which have been donating thousands of pounds to her groups over the past few years.

Ms Platt has twice refused to reveal the identity of the groups when asked by Times reporters but has finally amended the CAFH website to reveal that Network for Animals, IFAW in Action and Lush Cosmetics have made financial contributions. The Alliance have been campaigning for many months for CAFH to be transparent about where it receives its funding. Last November, on behalf of the Alliance, Sir Edward Garnier MP wrote to the Conservative Party Chairman raising concerns about the lack of financial transparency at the CAFH.

Earlier this week The Times newspaper published a second story about Ms Platt's groups, this time the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation (CAWF). The story, published in The Times, reported upon a letter, sent by the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin MP, requesting that CAWF stop using the Conservative Party logo and "restrict their activities".

Commenting upon the letter, Sir Edward stated that Ms Platt had been duping people into thinking her groups had the Party's backing. He said:

"In commercial or media law is called passing off. You can't pass off a Morris Minor as a Rolls-Royce. It's a simple question of describing yourself properly."

Chairman of the Countryside Alliance, Simon Hart MP, said:

"It's an alert: here is an organisation with no financial governance, that refuses to reveal its funding sources and has been making false claims of an affiliation to the Conservative Party."

Last month, Shooting Times, revealed that CAWF had published a document calling a complete review of shooting and a ban on snaring.

Questions regarding CAFH funding were first raised by The Times last December.