Michael Ashcroft  Row raises questions over status of biggest
donor  The interest in George Osborne's meetings with Oleg
Deripaska has revived questions for the Conservatives over a big
source of their funding, Lord Ashcroft.  Osborne and Andrew
Feldman were adamant that the party would in any case not have
accepted any money from the Russian oligarch, since he does not
live in the UK and, while it could be channelled legally through
a British company which he owns, the two declared it "would not
be appropriate to accept such a donation".  This invites the
question: is it "appropriate" for the Conservatives to accept
money from Ashcroft, one of the party's largest single donors
and appointed deputy chairman shortly after David Cameron was
elected leader. When the question was put to senior party
officials yesterday, they declined to answer.  Ashcroft is
British, but it is unclear whether or not he lives in the UK or
in Belize, the central American tax haven where he resided for
many years and where many of hi