Money and politics make for an often volatile and controversial mix. Money lubricates politics, enabling parties to carry out activities that are essential for the democratic process, not least informing the voting public of their plans for government. But many fear it also distorts politics in less desirable and even pernicious ways, a sentiment captured dramatically in a scene from All the President's Men, the 1976 film of Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation of the Watergate scandal. His investigation stalled, Woodward turns to Deep Throat, his mysterious and wellconnected source, in search of new leads. Deep Throat throws out an enigmatic, although ultimately important hint: ‘Follow the money’. The cash in question, payments to the Watergate conspirators, is traced back to President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign team (with its oddly appropriate acronym, CREEP, the Campaign to Re-Elect the President). The ensuing scandal not only forced the President's resignation but also caused serious and long-term harm to the American public's trust in their elected politicians. By enabling underhand activity, the Watergate money helped corrupt and undermine the democratic process.

Watergate-style criminal activities aimed at undermining political rivals are, thankfully, almost unheard of in mainstream British politics. But even here there are important questions regarding money's capacity to affect the political process. ‘Follow the money’ is still an important maxim for those interested in politics. In this book, we take Deep Throat's advice at face value as we trace the story of how British political parties’ constituency campaigns are funded and of what effect they have. Just as following the money revealed much about the state of US politics at the time of Watergate, so, we argue, does doing so in early 21st century British elections reveal a great deal about the health of grassroots political activity in the UK. If the central questions for the Watergate investigation were, famously, ‘What did the President know, and when did he know it?’, our core questions are: ‘Where do the funds for modern constituency campaigns come from, what are they spent on, and what effect (if any) do they have on election results?’