Tories to keep Russian £800,000
THE Tories will not pay back more than £800,000 in Russian donations – despite Theresa May’s vow to distance the party from oligarchs and their associates.
When she took office, May’s allies briefed that it would not be “business as usual”.
However, the Tories have since declared £826,100 from Russianlinked supporters. And they have accepted some £3million in donations from Russian billionaires and lobbyists since 2010.
Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday told the BBC that the cash was “legitimate”.
He said: “There are people in this country who are British citizens who are of Russian origin. I don’t think we should taint them, or should tar them with Putin’s brush.”
Marina Litvinenko, widow of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian dissident believed killed by the Kremlin in London in 2006, told the BBC: “These donations are not just from the heart for charitable reasons. They are calculated.”
Tory Minister Sam Gyimah dismissed any suggestions the cash amounted to Moscow meddling in British politics. He said: “The Conservative Party have not accepted money from the Kremlin.” HUNDREDS of pub and restaurant customers have been urged to wash their clothes as it emerged Sergei Skripal may have been poisoned at home and spread the nerve agent.
Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer at Public Health England, said up to 500 people could have visited the same sites as the ex-Russian spy last Sunday.
Staff at The Mill pub and Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury, Wiltshire, have been told to burn their clothes and discard all workrelated items after traces of the nerve agent were discovered.
A Zizzi worker said they were “horrified” at being told they could be at risk and should see a doctor, adding: “We haven’t felt ill but it is worrying, people were understandably upset.”
A full decontamination of the premises could take weeks.
Skripal, 66, and daughter Yulia, 33, are in a critical condition in hospital after being found unconscious on a bench.
Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, 38, one of the first on the scene, is in a serious condition.
Issuing her “precautionary advice”, Davies, 68, said: “We have learnt there has been some trace contamination at Zizzi