£23m from just 13 peers in five years
ALMOST one in five of the Conservative peers appointed by David Cameron are party donors. Thirteen of the 83 new Tory Lords since 2010 have given a total of £23million, research shows.
Labour MP Paul Flynn said: ‘If you look at the people who get to the Lords and compare them with contributions to the main parties, you find this correlation. It’s as if they are virtually buying their places in our legislature.’
There is no suggestion any of the donors broke rules and their peerages were cleared by the Electoral Commission and the House of Lords Appointments Commission. The 13 Conservative donors include hedge fund baron Michael Farmer, made a life peer last summer. He has donated almost £7million. Others include JCB billionaire Anthony Bamford, who donated £4.1million, and Stanley Fink – the City financier who claimed ‘everyone’ tries to avoid tax – who gave £3.2million.
Bob Edmiston, who donated around £4million through various firms, received a peerage in 2010 but stepped down last week. Investment banker George Magan, made a peer in 2011, has donated £1.4million.
Another 43 per cent of Mr Cameron’s new Tory peers are political cronies including former special advisers, councillors and party top brass. A further 11 per cent are City financiers.
The 47 Labour and 40 Lib Dem peers created since 2010 also include key donors. Scottish businessman Willie Haughey – who has given nearly £1.5million to Labour – was made a peer in September 2013.
Gulam Noon, an Indian-born businessman received a life peerage in January 2011 having given £882,326 to Labour.
The Lib Dems’ peers have included Ministry of Sound founder Jamie Palumbo, who has donated £1.1million, and entrepreneur Rumi Verjee, who has gifted £1.8million to the party through his company Brompton Capital.