Cover stories? Triangulating party-firm relations in the case of the property industry and the UK Conservative Party

The nature of planning creates valuable private goods for the property industry and a consequently controversial relationship with politics in many countries. We combine quantitative data on donations and media coverage with qualitative material on social events, lobbying, and advocacy. We argue that the relationship between the property industry and the Conservative party is more intense than for business more generally, in relation to donations, policy advocacy, and social events. Property donations are more consistent over the electoral calendar than those for other businesses, thereby facilitating reciprocal exchanges in which the terms are unstated, uncertain, and non-simultaneous. Overall, property donors combine pragmatic, social, and partisan motivations, in a relationship reminiscent of elite theory. The social and partisan dimensions can provide cover stories for pragmatic motivations. These cover stories, combined with reciprocal exchanges, mean the system could process corrupt exchanges without a substantial risk of scandal. This does not mean that most, or even many, donors engage in such exchanges.