Fundraising advice for Tory Party

It would take a heart of stone not to be moved at reports that even the Conservative Party is not immune to the credit crunch, and that 10% of staff at head office have been sacked.

Conservative Home has a lively debate about some of the ways that the party could have saved money - the hundreds of thousands that were wasted on newspaper adverts, the lack of outreach to women and minority communities, the huge salaries lavished on people appointed through a 'jobs for the boys' appointment process and so on.

At this difficult time and in the spirit of putting aside partisan rancour and divisions as the festive season of Winterval approaches, I would like to offer a modest suggestion to the Tories about how they could raise money. Many good causes have found that releasing a Christmas charity record has been a valuable source of both income and publicity.

I for one would definitely buy a song which featured celebrity Tory musicians such as Phil Collins, that one who used to be in Busted, Bryan Ferry and Tony Hadley, as well as non-singers such as Frank Lampard, Nick Faldo, Jeremy Clarkson and Jim Davidson, all coming together to sing that well known festive tune:

"Feed the Tories, let them know it's Christmas time..."