Westminster Accounts: 14 MPs given over £250,000 each in campaign donations since the last election

Published

3 years ago

January 10, 2023

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Fourteen MPs have been given more than £250,000 each towards their campaigns and causes, analysis for the Westminster Accounts has revealed.

The senior politicians – from Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats – were all given between £258,000 and £752,800 from various companies and individuals during this parliament, which started in December 2019.

In a tumultuous few years for British political parties, most of the top 20 MPs to receive donations ran for their party’s leadership campaigns, including Sir Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – the three highest recipients.

Search for your MP using the Westminster Accounts tool

All the information on donations is available through parliament’s register of interests, but Sky News and Tortoise Media have collated all the figures for the first time in one database, with total sums and details of which MPs are receiving how much money and from whom.

Sir Keir Starmer is top of the leaderboard for campaign donations, with £752,809 given to him by 67 companies and individuals.

His biggest equal donor is north London barrister Robert Latham, who gave his leadership campaign £100,000 to pull Labour “back from the brink” after the Corbyn years.

Media entrepreneur and Blairite Lord Waheed Alli also gave him £100,000 for his campaign. In November, it was revealed Lord Alli will head up Labour’s fundraising efforts for the next election.

Rishi Sunak comes in behind Sir Keir with £546,043 in donations for his leadership campaign this summer, when he lost to Liz Truss before becoming prime minister when she stepped down.

His largest donor is Northern Ireland industrialist Chris Rea, who gave Mr Sunak’s campaign £100,000 after saying he was “horrified at the prospect of Liz Truss actually implementing her promises as I am numerate and it was clear to me that it would be bad for the UK”.

Donations for MPs not running for leader

Sky News has estimated it takes at least £250,000 to run a leadership campaign, which is reflected in the amounts and reasons given to those who ran.

Out of the top 10 highest donor recipients, seven ran for leader or deputy leader of their party.

But Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, and senior Tories Michael Gove and Brandon Lewis, all had more than £250,000 donated to them despite not running for leader.

Their donations are mainly to support their work and pay for staff.

Ms Reeves has received donations of £441,101 from a variety of individuals, including former Lloyds Bank chairman Sir Victor Blank and Lord Sainsbury, to pay for her staff, while others donated substantial sums so she could pay for research.

Levelling Up Secretary Mr Gove had £336,983 donated to him, including £100,000 from British-German property magnate Zachariasz Gertler and £20,000 from northeast property tycoon Alan Massie, both who have been long-time supporters of Mr Gove’s.

What are the rules on MPs receiving donations?

MPs receiving donations from companies and individuals is within the law but there are rules relating to how much and who can donate.

There is an onus on MPs to check donations – of money, goods, property or services – of more than £500 are from “permissible sources” and they must be reported to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards within 28 days of accepting them.

If an MP receives a donation from a source that is not permissible, including one they cannot identify, they must return it and let the Electoral Commission know within 30 days.

MPs can accept donations for a variety of reasons, including carrying out research on a policy they are promoting, holding constituency events to bring different groups together on an issue, visiting another country to understand how a policy works, and for running their office.

Donations can also be accepted for campaigning for an MP to be on a committee, campaigning for a party candidate to be selected and promoting policies with a view to their party adopting them.

Donor company set up by MP

Brandon Lewis, Northern Ireland Secretary under Boris Johnson and Conservative Party chairman before that, received £266,334.

That includes £40,500 from Norwich-based construction company Bateman Groundworks, whose founder Richard Bateman describes himself as a “disillusioned Tory”.

The former housing minister was also given £28,500 from developers Countrywide Developments and £25,000 by Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of a former Putin minister who is a British citizen.

Former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron is 11th on the list, with £259,997 in donations but what is unusual is his highest donor – who gave £154,072 for staff and office support.

Faith in Public Ltd was set up by evangelical Christian Mr Farron himself to, he says, fund support for his faith work, including work in parliament on homelessness and refugees, “Christian outreach” and “making the case for faith in the public square”.

The MP told Sky News the money from Faith in Public comes mainly from donations from two charitable trusts and two individuals.

Another notable name on the leaderboard is Jeremy Corbyn, who comes in at 18th with £210,616 in donations despite not running for leadership after stepping down in 2020 after five years as Labour leader.

His biggest donor, with £191,100, is JBC Defence which stands for Jeremy Bernard Corbyn Defence. It was set up and is funded by his supporters to pay for lawyers fighting libel action brought against Mr Corbyn.

World

Donald Trump sending ‘top of the line’ weapons to support NATO in Ukraine war

Published

16 hours ago

July 15, 2025

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Donald Trump sending 'top of the line' weapons to support NATO in Ukraine war

Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.

Speaking with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.

“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”

Follow the latest here

It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a “very good conversation” with Mr Trump late on Monday. He thanked him for the “willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings”.

Weapons being sent from to Ukraine include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which the country has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.

Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.

The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.

Mr Zelenskyy previously criticised Vladimir Putin’s “desire to drag [the war] out”, and said Kyiv was “working on major defence agreements with America”.

It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump over Mr Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.

During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call”, but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.

“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.

After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”

Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.

He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.

World

Trump announces weapons deal with NATO to help Ukraine – as he gives Putin 50-day ultimatum

Published

1 day ago

July 14, 2025

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Trump announces weapons deal with NATO to help Ukraine - as he gives Putin 50-day ultimatum

Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.

Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.

“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”

Follow the latest here

Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.

Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.

The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.

It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.

During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.

“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.

Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.

After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”

He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.

World

At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

Published

2 days ago

July 14, 2025

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At least 30 dead and 100 injured as armed groups clash in Syria, officials say

At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.

Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.

The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.

It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.

The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.

Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.

But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.

It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.

Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.

Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.

That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.

The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.