TORIES’ £11.5M DONORS Elite fat cats still fund party
THESE are the top 20 superrich donors who bankrolled the Tories to the tune of £11.5millon last year.
Despite Theresa May’s pledge to reduce dependency on large handouts, the party still relies on fat cats.
The 20 are members of the exclusive “Leader’s Group” of donors, who pay £50,000 a year for private dinners with the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet ministers.
The list is headed by the Bamford family, owners of mechanical engineering firm JCB, who gave £2,457,000.
Lord Anthony Bamford and his brother Mark were guests of the PM in 2017.
Second on the list is ex-Tory treasurer Sir Mick Davis, who gave £1.3m. He received a knighthood from David Cameron in 2015.
Third is John Griffin, owner of posh vehicle hire firm Addison Lee, who handed the Tories £1.04m.
Other donors include hedge fund manager Andrew Law who gave £617,730. His firm Caxton Associates was ranked fourth least transparent in the world.
Lord Fink, who once said “tax avoidance, everyone does it” donated £269,100. Michael Spencer – whose firm Icap was fined £55million for its role in the 1 The Bamford Family
2 Mick Davis 3 John Griffin 4 David Brownlow
5 Andrew Law 6 Ian Taylor 7 John Bloor 8 Lord Ashcroft
9 Tony Gallagher
10 Rami Ranger 11 Henry Angest
12 Michael Hintze 13 Peter Cruddas 14 Charles Wigoder 15 Lord Edmiston
16 Leopold Noe 17 Lord Fink 18 Michael Spencer
19 David Ord 20 Lubov Chernukhin Libor-rigging scandal – gave the Tories £255,000. Labour MP Jon Trickett said: “Theresa May is more dependent than ever on elite donors who pay huge sums for access to her and Cabinet ministers. “Only Labour will stand for the many, while the Tories represent the interests of a privileged few.”