The BBC are making an effort to stir interest in the Politics Show tomorrow - promising to expose the links between the Midlands Industrial Council and the Conservatives. The new element seems essentially to point the finger at Julie Kirkbride as the official go-between.

The BBC are also revealing the names of the participants - most of whom had been outed by the Telegraph a while back.

Funnily enough there is a familiar ring to some of them.

Seriously rich tory donor Bob Edmiston has of course been in the news as one of the tory donors who didn't get to the house of Lords. The Sunday Times put it like this:

The chairman of the council is Bob Edmiston, a multi-millionaire car importer who was nominated for a peerage by the Tories last year. His nomination was blocked by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, which vets potential peers.

Bob Edmiston is apparently one of those creationists who has taken advantage of the New Labour City Academies scheme to set up a few schools - including one in Solihull.

Sir Anthony Bamford hit the headlines when Cameron made his trip to India. The Sunday Times were onto this as well:

The MIC president is Bamford, knighted by Margaret Thatcher in 1990. He recently accompanied Cameron on a trip to India where the Tory leader opened a JCB factory.

So the MIC story links back to the Cameron product placement story that emerged back in August.

Not once but twice in fact. Also on the list is Peter Shirley of Midlands Chilled Foods. Here is what Labour blogger Fair Deal Phil has to say:

Peter Shirley - of Midland Chilled Foods whose new factory in Basingstoke, Hampshire was recently opened by David Cameron. Mr Shirley told the ST:
“I’m a member of the MIC. I was aboslutely amazed that it was David Cameron who came to the (factory) opening.”

(Okay he is just quoting the Sunday Times here - but he has obviously done some work on this crowd).

Other blogs with pieces on this story include Lib Dem Voice,Colin Ross, and Norfolk Blogger.

We last looked at Tory finances here.