Labour Party take record £6.4m donations in just three months

Business leaders hand over money ahead of next year’s election, inspired by a ‘smoked salmon and scrambled eggs offensive’

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to the AstraZeneca life sciences facility at the Macclesfield Campus, Cheshire.
The Labour Party says its finances 'have gone from strength to strength' under Sir Keir Starmer Credit: Peter Byrne/PA

Labour has raked in a record £6.4 million in private donations in just three months as business leaders fill its coffers ahead of the next election.

Official figures show that the party made more from individual benefactors between April and June this year than it did in the whole of 2022.

They come after Sir Keir Starmer embarked on a corporate charm offensive dubbed the “smoked salmon and scrambled eggs offensive”.

But despite the huge rise in revenues, Labour’s donations were still outstripped by the Tories, who took in £2.4 million more in the latest quarter.

£8m from private benefactors in 2023

The Left-wing party has already raised just shy of £8 million from private benefactors this year as it looks to fill its coffers ahead of the next election.

Its bank balance has been dramatically improved by contributions from Baron Sainsbury of Turville, the former supermarket chain chairman.

A long-standing Labour donor, he cut off support while Jeremy Corbyn was leader but has now returned and given £5 million over the past two years.

He donated £3 million in the latest quarter alone, which helped the party to record takings of £6.4 million from private benefactors over a three month period.

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Previously, the biggest figure it had registered was £4.6 million between July and September in 2008, when Gordon Brown was prime minister.

A Labour spokesman said: “Thanks to Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Labour Party saw significant financial growth throughout 2022, and our finances have gone from strength to strength this year as we set out our five missions to transform Britain.

“The Labour Party is a changed party that is serious about getting into government and building a better Britain.”

Sir Keir has been working to reduce his party’s reliance on funding from the unions, with whom he has frequently clashed on key policies.

Figures released by the Electoral Commission on Thursday show that Labour made £7.5 million in overall donations in the second quarter of this year.

But it still trailed the Tories who brought in £9.9 million, with Rishi Sunak buoyed by an enormous contribution to his own election war chest from a private benefactor.

Frank Hester, the founder and chief executive of healthcare technology firm The Phoenix Partnership, has given £5 million to the Conservatives.

In an article for The Telegraph, he said that he was inspired to donate the money by the Prime Minister’s plans for the use of technology in the NHS.

His donation was one of the biggest given to the Tories in 20 years and matched the £5 million recently given by Egyptian-born billionaire Mohamed Mansour.