Is this the most important political donation since the election?

Nigel Farage may have scored a big blow against the Tories...

Plenty of money has been poured into the Conservative Party since the 4 July general election – largely into the bank accounts of Tory leadership finalists Kemi Badenoch (who took cash from a climate science denier) and Robert Jenrick (who accepted a few bob from a firm based in a tax haven).

However, I think one donation to Nigel Farage potentially tops them all, in terms of its potential to rewire British politics and influence the next election…

On 25 October, the Reform leader accepted a helicopter trip (very man of the people) from the construction conglomerate JCB – a firm owned by the Bamford family, the members of which have donated at least £5 million to the Tories since 2018.

According to JCB, Farage was flown in to meet the company’s senior management, who also occasionally meet senior Labour politicians.

However, if Farage’s JCB jaunt turns into more than a fleeting flirtation, the Tories could be in trouble.

The Bamford family is a major player in the Conservative Party. Mark Bamford sits on the board of the party’s multi-million pound endowment fund. The family’s patriarch, Anthony, is a director of the Centre for Policy Studies – an influential Tory think tank. He also infamously helped to bankroll Boris Johnson’s wedding, and allowed the former PM to squat in his London townhouse, after Johnson was dumped from Downing Street.

If the JCB dynasty is thinking about switching its political allegiance, with Farage snapping at the heels of new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, it could shift the balance of power on the right of politics – potentially permanently.

It has been widely reported that the Conservatives are suffering financially after the general election. A bunch of former Conservative donors have also already made the jump to Reform, including the likes of aviation entrepreneur Christopher Harborne (who now seems to splitting his donations between the two parties), fund manager Jeremy Hosking, and financier Crispin Odey.

If the Tories shed another major funder, its downfall could come even sooner than we all think, with Farage the beneficiary.

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I’m an investigative journalist and current affairs writer who has worked with the New York Times, the Guardian, the Mirror, the New European, Novara Media, New Statesman, Led By Donkeys, and others.

I specialise in exposing dark money and radical right-wing ecosystems, and I’m probably best known for my stories revealing the billions in PPE contracts awarded to Tory friends and donors during the pandemic. I was the first journalist to expose the £100 million+ contracts awarded to Michelle Mone’s firm, PPE Medpro.

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