Category Archives: Party funding

MPs to tighten laws allowing foreign donations to influence UK elections

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Exclusive: changes will end illegitimate funding via shell firms and subject donors to enhanced tests, backed by stronger fines

Ministers are planning to close loopholes that could allow foreign money to influence UK elections, with a crackdown on illegitimate donations through shell companies and new tests on political donors.

As part of a push to tighten up electoral law, the government will on Thursday announce a series of measures to ensure donations come from allowable UK sources.

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Tories lose one of their biggest donors in major blow to Kemi Badenoch

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Exclusive: Richard Harpin pauses donations in move insiders say will result in closure of party’s northern HQ

One of the Conservatives’ biggest donors has stopped funding the party in a move insiders believe will result in the closure of its northern HQ, the Guardian can reveal.

Richard Harpin, the founder of the home repairs business HomeServe, has ended his donations to the Conservatives, according to two Tory sources.

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MPs in new freebie row after accepting darts hospitality from betting firm

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Labour’s James Frith and Conservative Caroline Nokes gifted tickets by Paddy Power worth up to £1,000 each

Two MPs received VIP tickets for the sold-out World Darts Championships courtesy of a betting company – weeks after a national outcry over politicians accepting freebies.

Labour MP James Frith, who has campaigned for safer gambling, and Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, the deputy speaker of the House of Commons, were gifted “platinum” hospitality tickets by Paddy Power worth up to £1,000 each.

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Proportion of children in Great Britain with gambling problem has doubled, data reveals

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Gambling Commission figures show shock rise to 85,000 in number of young people suffering gambling harms

The proportion of young people in Great Britain with a gambling problem has more than doubled, according to “astonishing” official data that prompted calls for urgent government intervention.

New figures from the Gambling Commission, which regulates bookies, online casinos and the national lottery, revealed a shock rise, to 85,000, in the number of children classified as having a gambling problem under widely used diagnostic criteria.

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Starmer repaid freebies to restore trust in politics, minister says

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Sarah Jones suggests PM believes he should be held to higher standards now he is in government

Keir Starmer has repaid thousands of pounds in freebies to restore trust in politics, a minister has said as she ruled out accepting more hospitality.

Sarah Jones, the industry minister, said the prime minister’s motivation for repaying the money was “to do more to make people trust politicians”.

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Starmer’s free tickets for Arsenal and Taylor Swift part of job, says minister

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Business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, defends PM over gifts he has received since becoming Labour leader

Keir Starmer’s attendance at Arsenal football matches and Taylor Swift concerts is “part of the job”, the business secretary has said.

Jonathan Reynolds described the occasions for which Starmer had accepted tickets, including a Coldplay gig and football matches, as “major cultural, sporting events”.

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Keir Starmer alleged to have broken rules over party donor’s gifts to wife

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The prime minister made a late declaration of a personal shopper and clothes for his wife paid for by Lord Alli

Keir Starmer is alleged to have broken parliamentary rules by failing to declare donations of clothing for his wife from the Labour donor Waheed Alli.

The gifts to Victoria Starmer were not initially declared in the register of MPs’ interests, the Sunday Times reported.

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Diane Abbott says Tories paying ‘lip service’ to fighting racism after further Hester donation

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Party took £5m after Rishi Sunak condemned businessman for saying Abbott made you ‘want to hate all black women’

Diane Abbott has said the Conservatives are “only paying lip service to fighting racism” after it emerged their controversial donor Frank Hester had given a further £5m to the party before the election.

The donation, made by his company the Phoenix Partnership, brings his total funding to the Tories to more than £20m, cementing his status as their single biggest donor.

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New Frank Hester race claims pile pressure on Tories over £15m donations

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Exclusive: Hester allegedly used term ‘token Muslim’, imitated people of Chinese descent and said a person was attractive for a black woman

The Conservative party is facing questions over its decision to keep more than £15m given by its biggest ever donor, Frank Hester, after former employees made a series of fresh allegations.

Hester is alleged to have referred to a staff member as the “token Muslim”, imitated people of Chinese descent and remarked that one individual was attractive for a black woman, according to former employees who spoke to the Guardian.

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Tory donors pour cash into seats held by big names at risk of losing

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Exclusive: Over £2.5m for MPs such as Fox and Mordaunt in what will be the highest-spending UK election

Conservative donors have poured more than £2.5m into key election battlegrounds to shore up support for MPs, such as Liam Fox and Penny Mordaunt, who are in danger of losing their seats.

The 2024 election will be the highest-spending UK contest, after the government raised national election limits to £34m per party – leaving the Conservatives and Labour in an arms race to raise cash.

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Tory chair refuses to say whether party took further £5m from Frank Hester

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Richard Holden says Hester apologised for remarks about Diane Abbott and ‘we should accept that’

The Conservative party chair, Richard Holden, has four times refused to say whether the party continues to take millions from its biggest donor, Frank Hester, after it was revealed the businessman had made comments condemned as racist and misogynistic.

Holden said he could not comment on whether the Tories had recently accepted £5m, after it emerged that Hester told colleagues in 2019 that looking at Diane Abbott made you “want to hate all black women” and said she “should be shot”.

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Businessman who donated £5m to Tories gets knighthood

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Mohamed Mansour, a Conservative senior treasurer, is one of several surprise recipients of honours

A businessman and former Egyptian government minister who donated £5m to the Conservative party last year has unexpectedly been given a knighthood on the recommendation of Rishi Sunak.

Mohamed Mansour, a senior treasurer of the Conservative party for just over a year, was one of several surprise recipients of honours on Thursday, with the citation saying it was given for business, charity and political service.

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Tory donor Frank Hester raised complaint about NHS contract with health secretary

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Exclusive: Man who has now given party at least £10m copied Steve Barclay into email about problems with bid, documents show

The Conservative mega-donor Frank Hester complained to the NHS and the health secretary last year over problems his IT business had bidding for a contract, documents show.

The Leeds businessman, who owns a healthcare tech firm responsible for 60m UK medical records, raised a complaint about procurement in December 2022 with the chair of NHS England, copying in Steve Barclay, the then health secretary, saying he was an “interested party”.

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Biggest Tory donor said looking at Diane Abbott makes you ‘want to hate all black women’

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Exclusive: Remarks by Frank Hester, who has given £10m to the party in the past year, raise questions over his workplace behaviour

The Conservative party’s biggest donor told colleagues that looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and said the MP “should be shot”, the Guardian can reveal.

Frank Hester, who has given £10m to the Tories in the past year, said in the meeting that he did not hate all black women. But he said that seeing Abbott, who is Britain’s longest-serving black MP, on TV meant “you just want to hate all black women because she’s there”.

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Tory donors deny funding poll for group working to oust Sunak

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Donors close to Boris Johnson and hedge fund boss behind GB News say they had no involvement in polling

Conservative donors have been rushing to deny funding polling for a group working to oust Rishi Sunak, as David Frost was warned he could lose the whip if rival party backers were involved.

Senior Tory figures are scrambling to figure out the mystery donors behind the Conservative Britain Alliance, which funded a £40,000 poll, fronted by Lord Frost in the Telegraph, that predicted a Labour landslide.

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Tory donor’s firm paid for Sunak’s £16,000 one-way helicopter trip to Leeds

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Journey was paid for by The Phoenix Partnership, which has won £135m of contracts from NHS and government

Rishi Sunak took a £16,000 one-way trip to Leeds on a helicopter courtesy of a firm owned by Frank Hester, the Tory megadonor, taking the total for the prime minister’s donor-funded air travel to more than £100,000 this year.

The prime minister once again showed his fondness for short-haul air travel as he took a helicopter from Battersea to Leeds Bradford airport last month – a journey of about 90 minutes. The quickest train from London to Leeds takes about 2 hours and 13 minutes, and costs in the region of £60 off-peak.

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Tory donors from JCB empire could face £500m bill to settle tax inquiry

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Exclusive: HMRC investigation into peer Anthony Bamford and his brother focuses on offshore trusts that own business empire

The influential Tory donors behind the JCB digger empire could be hit with a bill for more than £500m to settle a longrunning investigation by HM Revenue and Customs, the Guardian can reveal.

The investigation into Anthony Bamford, a Tory peer, and his brother Mark, the director of a subsidiary of the Conservative party, is understood to span a complex network of offshore tax havens and companies.

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Tory donor issued with demolition order for hotel where Brexit deal signed

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Surinder Arora told to demolish all or part of Fairmont Windsor Park hotel where Northern Ireland deal was agreed

A multimillionaire businessman with close links to the Conservative party has been told to knock down part or all of a luxury hotel that hosted the signing of Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal because he breached planning regulations.

A planning enforcement notice issued by Runnymede borough council said Surinder Arora’s hotel company had until 7 October to take action at the Fairmont Windsor Park hotel near Windsor.

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Rishi Sunak changes declaration again over private jet travel expenses

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Questions continue to be raised about £38,500 for travel to Tory events, now declared to be from millionaire Akhil Tripathi

Rishi Sunak has changed his expenses declaration over the funding of private jet travel to Tory events after questions were raised about why they were recorded as coming from a small company linked to a multimillionaire businessman.

Sunak’s latest declaration now names the donor of £38,500 to pay for air travel by the prime minister and staff as Akhil Tripathi, a British-Indian medical tech entrepreneur who made a fortune from an anti-snoring device.

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Starmer put ‘on notice’ by Unite leader after vote to retain ties with Labour

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General secretary of union says party should not treat outcome as ‘blank cheque’ as rift remains with leadership

Keir Starmer has been put “on notice” by the leader of Britain’s biggest trade union, who said that its support should not be treated as a “blank cheque”.

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, signalled a rift remained with the Labour leadership despite delegates voting to remain affiliated with the party.

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