Revealed: Hedge fund chief is Red Ed’s £600,000 donor

THE Labour Party has received donations totalling almost £600,000 from a multimillionaire hedge fund manager whose identity officials have tried to keep secret, it emerged last night. Martin Taylor has been unveiled as the generous benefactor who has given the Labour Party donations totalling £591,800 since 2012 – making him the party’s fourth-largest donor.

Ed Miliband has had at least one private meeting with him.

The Labour leader has previously attacked the Conservatives for being ‘the party of Mayfair hedge funds’ – yet Mr Taylor’s firm is based in the same exclusive area of London.

Labour has promised to be open about its financial supporters. But the party faced accusations last night that it had repeatedly failed to identify Mr Taylor. The Times reported that it first asked Labour about his identity several months ago.

Parties are required to identify all donors who have given more than £7,500. But because only the name of the donors are published, it can be difficult to identify individuals with a common name such as Taylor.

Yesterday, under further pressure from newspapers, Labour issued a statement from Mr Taylor which identified him as a hedge fund mil- lionaire. The donor said: ‘There is no mystery. This “Martin Taylor” is me. I am a born and bred Londoner, who also happens to be a hedge fund manager. And I am proud to support the Labour Party.’

The 46-year- old runs a fund for Nevsky Capital and at one point was in charge of more than £2billion of funds. He said his support reflected a belief that ‘everyone should contribute to society and that those who are lucky enough to earn a lot should contribute more’. Mr Taylor is domiciled in the UK for tax purposes.

Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, told the Bureau of Investigative Journalism: ‘In the example of Martin Taylor [Labour] are open to the charge of hypocrisy. I urge Ed Miliband, as a potential Prime Minister, to ensure all donations accepted by the party have the donor’s agreement to give full details of their background.’

Last night a Labour spokesman said: ‘We are grateful to people from all walks of life who support the Labour Party and our better plan.’

Opinion has swung to the Left since the last election – but Ed Mili- band lacks the credentials to take advantage of it, a report has found.

Austerity has pushed the mood further from the Right on issues such as public spending, Europe, welfare and business, it showed.

But Labour ‘struggles to attract support’ because of a poor reputation on the economy, according to a study by NatCen Social Research and the University of Essex.