Conservative donors who backed Boris Johnson ahead of confidence vote hand party another £2.4 million
- 22 Tory donors signed a letter backing Boris Johnson before the vote of confidence he won 211-148.
- New figures show the donors or close family members gave £2.4 million in the first quarter of 2022.
Half of the 22 donors who signed a letter backing Boris Johnson before the vote of confidence have given the party another £2.4 million, new figures suggest.
Analysis of new data, released by the Electoral Commission, by the opposition Labour party shows that in the first quarter of this year 11 donors, their companies, or close family members gave the party a further £2.4 million on top of a reported £18 million in recent years. Insider has reviewed Labour's figures.
Donors including Lord Cruddas, made a peer by Johnson, and Conservative party treasurer Malik Karim were signatories to a letter shared with The Sun in the hours leading up to the vote of confidence on June 6, which Johnson won 211-148.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, one of Johnson's most ardent supporters, cited the letter during a TV interview with Sky News.
"The Conservative party donors have said themselves that they aren't going to support the party if the prime minister is removed. I think a number of MPs in marginal seats need to hear that, and need to understand what they're doing.
"£18 million those donors have donated to the Conservative party over recent times, it's those donors that have helped us to win the election, and they need to hear that message."
One of the largest donations from a letter signatory in the first quarter of 2022 was Christopher Harborne, who had not given to the Conservative Party since June 2019. Since then, Harborne has given more than £10 million to what was then Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, now Reform UK. Harborne gave the Conservatives £500,000 in February 2022.
Commenting on the letter and on Dorries's comments, a Conservative MP, given anonymity to speak frankly about the party's fundraising, told Insider it is "never good to have donors calling the shots."
Meanwhile Labour said the intervention from the donors before the vote of confidence show "exactly who is calling the shots".
Anneliese Dodds, chair of the Labour Party, told Insider: "If the big donors want Boris Johnson's failing premiership to limp on then it will. They couldn't care less about what's best for our country."
A Conservative spokesman told Insider: "The Conservative Party is proud to have the support of so many leading figures in British industry. They support the Conservatives because they understand what it takes to deliver growth and jobs and don't want Labour to trash the economy as they do every time they are in government."