THE estranged wife of green energy tycoon Dale Vince has claimed he expects to receive an honour from the Labour Party after giving them millions of pounds.
Lawyers acting for his wife Kate in divorce proceedings have said the businessman anticipated being given a peerage or knighthood after he bankrolled Keir Starmer’s General Election campaign, according to the Financial Times.
They say he wants a judge to sign off on the divorce “in haste” to prevent her from acquiring a title via the marriage.
Dale Vince’s barrister, Lewis Marks KC, told a hearing at the High Court that the notion that he expected an honour was the “purest of speculation” and dismissed his wife's assertion as “astonishing”.
Dale Vince is the founder of Ecotricity which has donated more than £5 million to Labour.
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The donations are central to a bitter divorce battle with his wife, who argues that he has been “generous with someone else’s money”.
She applied to the High Court last month to have the monies “set aside” which could result in him being required to compensate her for her share of the donations.
Dale Vince has also called on the court to declare the marriage dissolved “without further ado”, before the financial matters are finalised.
Richard Todd KC, lawyer for Kate Vince, said in written submissions that the “likelihood of getting an honour is not just born of his work as an eco-warrior but also from his role as the largest donor to the Labour party”.
Todd added: “Donors are habitually rewarded with honours.”
Marks said Kate Vince was seeking to create a “circus”.
In written submissions, he added: “It is not for this court to delay the orderly dissolution of this marriage in accordance with the rules because [Kate] wants to be able to call herself ‘Lady’.”
The judge lifted some of the standard restrictions on reporting divorce proceedings and allowed the parties to be named following public interest representations from the Financial Times.
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