Tories face ‘disastrous’ finances as businesses and donors turn to Farage and Starmer

Donors and businesses are turning their backs on the Tories for Labor and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as the party heads into its conference with question marks over its finances.

The insiders said it The Independent that a number of warning signals have been raised in the lead-up to the first annual conference since the historically bad general election defeat in July.

In the weeks leading up to the Birmingham conference, due to start on Sunday, it was claimed the party was still struggling to find a sponsor for its VIP Blue Room, previously sponsored by the Regent Street Group. Sources also suggested that the level of donation required to access the VIP room had dropped significantly.

The party denied the lack of interest from its members and businesses. However, a number of major donors, including real estate mogul Nick Candy, have either openly or privately turned to the Reform Party or stopped donating money altogether.

It was claimed the party was handing out tickets to young activists in a bid to entice people to attend the conference.

The conference’s annual business day dinner is now taking place, but it was at risk of being canceled due to lack of interest and allegations that the party was trying to overcharge.

The party’s funds are so tight that candidates to replace Rishi Sunak have all been asked to produce £50,000 as a prerequisite to be allowed into the final four, in a bid to impress members this week. The bottom two will have to produce a further £150,000 or be eliminated.

A senior party official said The Independent that “things are disastrous”.

“One donor was allowed into the VIP Blue Room after donating just £3,000. Previously you couldn’t get in for less than £20,000. The party is desperate for anyone to donate money. I’m not even sure it’s worth the £3,000 to go there.

A senior city official expressed disgust that the party tried to charge separately for a business dinner in addition to a professional event.

“No one wanted to go and they certainly didn’t want to spend more on dinner. Who would you talk to anyway? It’s no longer like Jeremy Hunt is chancellor and we don’t even know who the leader will be.

Meanwhile, businesses were desperate to gain access to new Labor ministers at their party conference in Liverpool last week.

But what really panicked the Tories was the flight of donors to Reform UK and Nigel Farage.

A Reform Party fundraising dinner hosted by Mr Candy, whose wife Holly Valance was considering running for Reform, was said to have involved “a lot of well-known names” among long-time Tory donors.

The reason for the change appears to be the belief that Mr Farage is now the most influential figure on the right of British politics.

Additionally, new Reform Party chairman Zia Yussuf – himself a multi-millionaire businessman and former Conservative Party member – has played a major role in fundraising for Mr Farage’s party.

Other Conservative supporters, described as “friends of Boris Johnson”, are said to be staying away from the conference because the party has no power and a historically low number of MPs.

One major donor to remain loyal to the party is Lord Michael Spencer, whose son Patrick won Central Suffolk and North Ipswich for the Conservatives, but was selected in controversial circumstances.

The Independent has spoken to another major donor who has returned to the Conservatives since the election, but only to support Tom Tugendhat’s leadership campaign and is conditioning his continued support on the former security minister’s victory.

Sources blamed financial problems and difficulties in generating interest in the party conference on two factors.

The catastrophic defeat in July’s election, which left the Conservatives with just 121 MPs, is said to have left the party “very unattractive” for the next five years, with “no real influence” and questions over whether they can turn things around.

But the four-month timing of the leadership conference is also being blamed, rendering the party irrelevant even as Labor faces a difficult start to the term.

A number of MPs and other high-ranking figures have complained that the new leader should have been unveiled at a conference to serve as a launching pad for the party’s turnaround. Instead, “he’s just talking to himself” with four leadership contenders – Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly – all making their case to replace Mr Sunak.

Teesside Mayor Lord Ben Houchen, now a powerful figure within the party after securing a rare victory this year, said The Independent he was still unhappy that the new leader was not even in place to respond to the budget on November 2.

He said: “I feel like we’ve left the playing field while this leadership race is going on. And my biggest concern is that for a week, or maybe even two weeks, couldn’t we have brought the bill forward so that a new leader would be appointed who could respond appropriately to the budget? »

In response, the Conservative Party insisted that interest in the conference was still high, saying 20 per cent more members would attend this year.

A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “The Conservative Party Conference will return in full force this year, including its working day.

“We have seen significant interest in this project, with strong demand for tickets and partnerships and a full exhibition hall. Business Day partnerships in particular are up from last year’s conference and our business dinner is sold out.

“Unlike the Labor Party, we strive to deliver value at our events to ensure business leaders and policy makers feel their time has been well spent.”

A source added: “We do not recognize the claims about no business and low potential turnout. »