Members of Tory high command have received yet another financial boost with almost £500,000 being donated in the latest update of MPs’ financial interests.
It is more evidence that, ahead of the General Election, the party is awash with money.
Francis Maude, the shadow Cabinet Office minister whose role, if he is elected, will be to reform the Whitehall machine, lists in his entry in the register of interests more than £350,000 for temporary staff for the party’s “implementation team” – technical staff headed by Mr Maude, whose aim is to ensure the Conservatives hit the ground running in the event of an election victory.
The seconded staff were provided by a number of top financial and business consultants, including Deloitte, Ernst and Young and Pricewaterhouse-Coopers.
The highest single donation in this regard was for £145,458 from KPMG.
George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, received two donations totalling £40,000 from two donors, money used to help run his office.
Mr Osborne has already listed that he has benefited from more than £80,000 given by consultants to the shadow Treasury team.
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, received £60,000 from two donors to help him run his office. This sum is on top of almost £35,000 registered last year.
David Cameron listed a £4,335 donation for a private plane flight from Manchester to Bristol, and a Christmas hamper and
silver goblets worth £3,500 were donated by Tory benefactor Lord Harris of Peckham. The party leader also received a Christmas hamper from the Sultan of Brunei, but no value is given.
In the first three quarters of 2009, official figures show that the Tory party received £15.8 million in registered donations, while Labour received £10.2m.
As Mr Cameron prepares to speak at the Scottish Conservative conference in Perth on Friday, a poll of more than 1,000 people, carried out by Opinion Research Business for the party, shows that in its 11 target seats almost three-quarters of voters believe Gordon Brown’s Government looks “weak and divided”.
