Donations to Tories race ahead as industry turns back on Labour

The Conservatives raised twice as much in donations as Labour at the end of last year, including £250,000 from Michael Ashcroft.

- Rowena Mason

Despite some donors flirting with Nigel Farage's Reform UK and others switching to Labour at the election, the party managed to raise £1.93m in the last three months of 2024 as Kemi Badenoch took over the leadership.

Labour raised £1m from donors, at least half of which came from trade unions. One party source said Labour had struggled to encourage businesses to donate amid worries about the impact of the national insurance rise and other tax decisions.

Lord Ashcroft, a dual British and Belizean citizen and former Conservative party treasurer who is also a pollster and political publisher, donated more than £5m to the Tories in the decade running up to 2010 before cutting back during the David Cameron years.

His £250,000 donation was his largest since he gave £500,000 in the 2017 election campaign.

The Conservatives brought in £200,000 from the Northern Irish industrialist Chris Rea and more than £150,000 from Richard Harpin, the founder of HomeServe. A number of other donations of £50,000 appeared to be annual subscriptions for membership of the party's donor clubs.

Some Tory sources sceptical of Badenoch's leadership claimed the party was still struggling for its usual level of funds and was at risk of losing further donors to Reform.

Bassim Haidar, a major Tory donor, and Mohamed Amersi, another backer, contributed to Reform by attending a fundraiser in January.