Labour is now Britain's big money party

Starmer's party raised 15 times more donations than the Tories in the last week, new data shows. ReformUK remains reliant on Richard Tice's cash

Money talks. And nowhere is that old saw truer than in British politics.

In the first week of the 2019 general election the Conservatives raised £5.7million in donations.

In all, the Tories took in more than £18million in the four weeks leading up to Boris Johnson’s ‘stonking’ victory. Coincidentally, in office the Conservatives subsequently dramatically increased election spending limits.

This time around the difference couldn’t be sharper.

In the last week, the Tories took in just £293,000 from donors. It’s almost as if all the party’s rich donors have taken a look at the polls and decided that the game is up.

And the big money bets are piling into one place: Labour.

Where Labour raised barely £5 million in the whole month before the 2019 general election, Keir Starmer’s party has taken in more than £4.3million in the last seven days alone, according to newly released data from the Electoral Commission.

The vast majority of the cash comes from just three very wealthy donors.

Lord David Sainsbury donated £2.5million. The former supermarket chairman has given Labour more than £7.5million since Starmer became leader.

Two other major donors - Autoglass boss Gary Lubner and hedge fund manager Martin Taylor - donated £900,000 and £700,000, respectively.

The flow of money into Labour has been gathering pace, alongside a concerted campaign by the party to court business and City leaders.

Last year Labour took in a record £13 million in individual donations. Money has been coming from prominent former Tory backers.

Billionaire founder of Phones4U John Caudwell, who donated £500,000 to the Tory party in 2019, recently switched his support to Labour.

Businessman John Armitage previously gave £3.1m to the Conservatives but has given more than £100,000 to Labour under Starmer. Others have followed suit.

The assistance isn’t all cash. Companies and consultancies including HSBC and Peter Mandelson’s Global Counsel have seconded staff to shadow cabinet ministers.

Elsewhere, in the past week ReformUK raised £742,000, including £50,000 from former Neighbours star and Nigel Farage ‘whisperer’ Holly Valance.

But while Farage has been talking up the money the party was raising it is striking that Reform remains largely reliant on former leader Richard Tice’s cash.

As this newsletter previously revealed, Tice has loaned Reform more than £1.2million. Now Britain Means Business - a company owned by Tice - has donated £500,000 in cash.

When I spoke to Tice in April he told me that he wouldn’t need to be giving the party more money as “membership is going up” and “any more donations are coming in.” 

Perhaps with polls suggesting Reform could win seats Tice has decided to open his cheque book again…

And what of Rishi Sunak’s Tories?

The Conservatives did slightly better last week raising £575,000 largely, as this newsletter reported, on the back of big donations from oil and gas interests.

But now it really looks like the end of days for fundraisers at Conservative HQ. 

A few big donors have kept putting their hands in their pockets. Bestway Wholesale Ltd, whose chief executive Zameer Choudrey is a Tory peer, gave £50,000 in the last week. 

David Ord, Michael Hintze and Ken Costa donated £25,000 each. All are long-standing Conservative donors. Hintze has given more than £4.5million to the party and, as this newsletter revealed last week, has bankrolled the Liz Truss ‘incubating’ Institute of Economic Affairs. 

But beyond the muscle memory of a handful of veteran Tory donors, it seems pretty clear that Labour is where the big money in British politics is now.

And with big money comes big influence….

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