The “macro” story on donations today (Electoral Commission figures for Q3 are out) is that the Tories received £5.27m in donations – more than the other 17 parties combined. Labour got just over £3m (mostly from unions) while the Lib Dems received £816,663.
A trawl through the Tory donors is interesting in terms of individual gifts:
* Chaim “Poju” Zabludowicz, real estate magnate – and son of an Israeli arms tycoon – gave £100,000 in two instalments. Helsinki-born Zabludowicz is chairman and a key financial backer of Bicom, a lobbying organisation for Israel.
* Christian Meissner, former co-chief executive of Lehman Brothers (Europe and Middle East) gave £31,500. (Meissner is one of nine former Lehmans bankers suing for $106m in lost pay from the administrators).
* £83,000 of “vehicles” and £140,000 of money from David Rowland, who recently moved back onshore to help the Tories
* Ravi Shankar gave £2,000 (this may or may not be the famous sitar player)
* George Piskov, a Russian billionaire (chairman of Unistream money transfer bank) gave £4,200
* Sir Christopher Gent, former ceo of Vodafone, gave £11,000
* Canary Wharf gave £12,500
* Fidelity Investment Management gave £125,000
* Hedge fund manager Michael Farmer gave £252,000
* Engineering magnate Jeffrey Whaley gave £250,000
* IM Properties gave £250,000
* Kenneth Brook-Chrispin, the aptly-named chairman of Seabrooks crisps (very tasty, incidentally) gave £25,000
* Richard Boggis-Rolfe, ceo of headhunters Odgers Ray and Berndtston, gave £26,500
* Michael Alen-Buckley, co-founder of hedge fund RAB Capital, gave £7,000
* David Mayhew, the Cazenove veteran (now chairman of JP Morgan Cazenove) gave £2,500
* There are countless other donations from private equity/hedge fund/banking/real estate figures
* Aspinalls Club (the private gambling club) gave £10,000
* There have also been significant donations in kind from companies, including Bain & Co, Microsoft, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young and Boston Consultancy. This is mostly secondment of staff although Microsoft provided “consultancy”.
Labour’s private donations were few and far between and of less interest. They included:
* £50,000 from Lord Sainsbury
* £5,000 from Microsoft
* £17,250 from Tesco
* £5,000 from “Bet 365 Limited”
Jim Pickard
Kiran Stacey
