Going through the £16 million the Tories spent on the election Guido had to laugh when he came across a bill for nearly £30,000 for a dinner at Annabel’s in the Tories’ declared election expenditure, but Return Three is the gift that just keeps giving:
The Carphone Warehouse boss and intriguing donor David Ross donated £40,000 for “shooting” as an auction prize at a fund-raising dinner and billionaire Richard Caring donated another £140,000 worth of shooting. As they were given away as auction prizes the cost had to be factored into notional election spending. Of the total £16,682,874 the Tories spent, some 1% on this:
Brings a tear to your eye…