Lord Cruddas has told LBC’s Nick Ferrari he gave the Tories a £250,000 donation at the peak of the partygate scandal “to support Boris”, believing the incident had been “blown out of proportion”. He reiterated his support for the Prime Minister and how he delivered Brexit and the Covid vaccine programme:

“People’s narrative and thinking around Boris is really determined – in most cases – by their political views, I back Boris and, guess what? I sent the party a quarter of a million pounds six weeks ago, right at the height of partygate, to support the party and to support Boris. I think we should be grateful for Boris – the way he bought the vaccines into this country and the way he delivered Brexit. I’m behind him all the way.”

Cruddas added: “You watch the next general election – we’ll see who wins.” Would you bet against a man who went from being a milkman living on a council estate, to being a multi-millionaire City market-maker living in a Mayfair mansion*?

*Guido has just started reading his biography “Passport to Success – from Milkman to Mayfair“.