The Electoral Commission has released the latest party donations for last quarter (July to September), showing the Tories are holding a financing lead over the other parties despite Keir Starmer’s attempts to lure in the big donors and selling off opportunities to meet senior shadow ministers. Those raking in six figures in private donations were…
Tories – £3,392,692
Labour – £1,054,194
Co-operative Party – £397,425
LibDems – £366,481
Reports from this quarter also include furlough payments from the Treasury – included in the public funds category, jumbled together with Short Money that opposition parties regularly receive. The biggest loads of taxpayer cash going to parties were:
Labour – £1,820,483
LibDems – £536,322
Tories – £436,032
SNP – £184,331
At least six prominent donors to the Leave campaign have received identical death threats in the past week as part of a concerted campaign of intimidation from a group calling itself “The Real 48 Per Cent”, Guido can reveal. The chilling letters, which were typed but sent in handwritten envelopes, told the recipients: “You have stoked the fires of Brexit and led us to this moment. You can no longer be tolerated. We are coming for you. We are going to kill you”. Guido is aware of six Leave donors who have received the same letter. At least three have complained to the police. It is suspected that the sender of the letters identified the donors using this article listing the names of those who gave money to the Leave campaign. It is likely more letters were sent to other donors. The sender identified themselves as an opponent of Brexit, writing: “We were born in Britain. We live in the UK. We are European”. If you are a Leave donor who also received the letter and haven’t spoken to Guido yet, get in touch. The police would also like to hear from you…