THE Tories have been given £5 million in a single donation, the largest handed to the party in more than two decades.
Mohamed Mansour, a billionaire who served as a transport minister under former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, said the huge donation was a show of “confidence” in Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister.
Mansour’s donation is greater than the total the Tory Party received in the entire last quarter of 2022 – which was £4,858,373 according to Electoral Commission records.
In the same quarter, a total of £538,339 was donated to the SNP and £7,220,437 to the Labour Party.
READ MORE: Kirsty Strickland: Sunak risks speedy exit from No 10 if he acts on Suella Braverman
Writing in the Telegraph, the Egyptian-born billionaire and senior treasurer for the Conservatives explained why he had made the donation.
“I believe that this country has a very capable Prime Minister,” Mansour wrote. “One who understands how growth is generated in the modern economy. He gets the importance of technology and innovation. He can make the modern economy work for all UK citizens.
“My confidence in the Prime Minister is why I was proud to become a senior treasurer of the Conservative Party last December. I want to give him the best chance of having a full five-year term and so have donated £5m to the party’s election fighting fund. I look at what he has achieved in his first months in office and think what he could do in five years.”
David Sainsbury, a former chairman of the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s which was set up by his great grandfather, gave the biggest single donation in British political history to the LibDems ahead of the 2019 General Election. The “Lord Sainsbury of Turville” gave the party £8m.
Mansour’s £5m donation to the Tories is the largest single donation the party has been given since 2001 when Paul Getty – an heir to the Getty Oil Company fortune – donated the same amount.
In February, the Mirror reported that Mansour arranged secret dinner parties for super-rich VIPs to have privileged access to top Tory ministers.
The paper said that Mansour held monthly events at his home in London’s Belgravia, with groups of wealthy businessmen allowed to quiz ministers including Sunak, Michael Gove, and Kwasi Kwarteng on whatever subject they chose.
Guest would later be approached to donate to the Tories, according to the report, but ministers kept them hidden from official declarations, claiming they were not political events in nature.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel