Mick Davis quits the Conservatives

SIR MICK Davis quit as chief executive and treasurer of the Conservative Party on Wednesday, warning the party risks the “very bad outcome” of putting Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street if it is not “properly resourced and financed”.

Sir Mick, a former Jewish Leadership Council chair, wrote to the party’s biggest donors, saying: “One of my great bugbears has been the lack of unity in our party.”

He said Boris Johnson, who was elected leader on Tuesday and will become prime minister on Wednesday afternoon, “should be free to choose a team at CCHQ.

“Good politics is not a cheap exercise and if we are not properly resourced and financed we will risk a very bad outcome — Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10,” he said.

“Our new leader and Prime Minister can only be effective if a strong and unified party stands behind him. One of the key roles of CCHQ is to facilitate that outcome but I am asking you our donors, upon whom we depend, to embrace that call for unity as well.

“There is today no room for bystanders — my successor will need your help and I hope that you will step forward right now and send a powerful message of unity, purpose and commitment.”

In April, The Times reported Sir Mick was using his own money to fund Tory campaigning in the European Parliament elections as donors deserted the party. His efforts are believed to have met with only limited success.

South African-born Sir Mick, who stood down from the JLC in March 2017, was appointed Tory Party treasurer in February 2016. He has long been a donor to the party and received a knighthood for his work chairing the former Prime Minister David Cameron’s Holocaust Commission in 2015.