Revealed: 50% of Tory Funds Come from City
THE GUARDIAN: Donations from the financial sector have risen steeply since David Cameron became leader of the Conservative party

Financiers in the City of London provided more than 50% of the funding for the Tories last year, new research revealed last night, prompting claims that the party is in thrall to the banks.

A study by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism has found that the City accounted for £11.4m of Tory funding – 50.79% of its total haul – in 2010, a general election year. This compared with £2.7m, or 25% of its funding, in 2005, when David Cameron became party leader.

The research also shows that nearly 60 donors gave more than £50,000 to the Tories last year, entitling each of them to a face-to-face meeting with leading members of the party up to and including Cameron.

The study shows the impact that Michael Spencer has had on party funding. He was appointed by Cameron as Tory treasurer in an attempt to reduce the influence of Lord Ashcroft, the party's former deputy chairman. Spencer was asked by Cameron to increase the number of relatively small donations of £50,000 to curb the influence of large donors such as Ashcroft, and for these smaller donations the City was place to look.

But there were still big City donations last year. David "Spotty" Rowland gave more than £4m. Stanley Fink, a hedge fund manager who was appointed the Tory treasurer last year in succession to Spencer, gave £1.9m while George Magan gave £485,000. Magan was also given a peerage.

The research comes at an awkward time for the coalition. Yesterday, George Osborne put an extra £800m tax on bank balance sheets for this year, increasing the bank levy from £1.7bn to £2.5bn. The move was immediately denounced by unions as being politically motivated, coming as it did just hours before Osborne's first encounter with the new shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, in the Commons. >>> Nicholas Watt and Jill Treanor | Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Little wonder that David Cameron has no stomach to tackle the absurd and undeserved bonuses in the City! – © Mark