Thread by @allthecitizens

🚨EXCLUSIVE:

More than a quarter of ‘elite’ Conservative Party donors (giving a minimum of £100,000 in a single donation) have been given a title or honour, raising fresh concerns of a ‘cash for honours’ scandal at the heart of government - from @BylineBITE and @AllTheCitizens

Of the Tory party’s 20 biggest donors since 2010 – individuals donating more than £1.5 million – 11 (55%) hold some form of honour. 10 were awarded these in the last decade

Of 259 donors who gave £100,000+ (where info is available), 67 (26%) hold an honour, title or peerage.

Also, almost all of the 67 decorated donors (96% or 64) were given their titles or honours by the Tories in the last decade - either through New Year, Birthday or Prime Minister’s Resignation Honours or made a life peer by the leader of the Conservative Party.

This revelation comes following @allthecitizens @bylinebite showing the average ‘elite’ donor (286 people giving min £100,000 in the last decade) is a 65 year old, white male Londoner called Michael who worked in the financial services and gave £535,000 bylinetimes.com/2021/09/08/mee…

Overall, 19 of the Conservative parties’ recent ‘elite’ (£100,000+) donors held life peerages, 20 were knighted, 14 were given CBEs, 8 were granted OBEs and 3 of them honoured with an MBE. And most of these were after a sizable donation.

In reference just to ‘titles’ (such as life peerages), more than three quarters of the titles were received by backers since the Conservatives came to power in 2010.

Only three of these ‘elite’ donors held titles prior to this, either by birth or marriage - Lord Jamie Borwick, Lady Annabel Goldsmith and Lady Alison De Haan.

A 2019 investigation by @OpenDemocracy urged the Cabinet Office to investigate the possibility of a new ‘cash for honours’ scandal, but there has been little further scrutiny - opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-…

Some top Tory backers have already faced criticism for being awarded for their support. Peter Cruddas donated £500,000 to the party three days after taking his seat in the House of Lords theguardian.com/politics/2021/…

Allegations of misconduct have been emerging for many years, but due to the difficulty in proving an explicit violation of electoral law, there has been a distinct lack of accountability - independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

Although many ‘elite’ Tory donors may argue they received their honours or peerages primarily for their services to public life, the quantity of top donors gaining titles either directly before, or immediately after donating requires, at the very least, further investigation.

For the full write-up from @BylineBITE team, please follow the link below:

bylinetimes.com/2021/09/09/tor…

and keep up with @allthecitizens #KeepingTheReceipts on twitter here: @receiptkeepers

and follow us on substack below:
keepingthereceipts.substack.com

An update on our latest story

https://twitter.com/bylinetimes/status/1436286211614724125