Sunak took £10k helicopter ride and bagged Tories £250k donation from tycoon

09 March 2024 , 19:41

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Rishi Sunak went to Altrincham to rattle his donation tin (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak took a £10k helicopter ride to a supermarket tycoon's back garden to rattle his tin for a £250k donation.

The Prime Minister was widely criticised for flying by helicopter from London to his constituency last May - stopping off to visit the Altrincham home of billionaire B&M boss Bobby Arora on the way.

And figures just released by the Electoral Commission reveal how lucrative Mr Sunak's trip was.

Mr Arora donated £250,000 to the Conservative Party in December - one of the party's biggest single donations of the year.

It's Bobby Arora's first political donation, according to the Commission's records - though his brother Simon has previously given £50,000 to the Tories.

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The £10,000 cost of the helicopter ride was covered by another tycoon - Ferrari driving businessman Steve Parkin.

In total, the Tories were handed around £48million in cash donations and public funds in 2023.

The party had recorded an overall loss in 2022 amid a year of political turmoil which saw three different prime ministers enter Number 10.

Including donations to both the central party and local branches as well as all payments from trade unions, companies, individuals and public funds, Labour received around £31 million across 2023.

But despite being behind the Tories overall, it was Labour’s biggest ever year in donations from individuals and companies - who gave more than £13 million in total.

The Conservatives trousered £10million in donations from health tech tycoon Frank Hester and his firm the Phoenix Partnership (Leeds).

And two Tory MPs donated their own cash to the party in a desperate bid to get re-elected. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt handed his local party £18,084 in November - taking the total he's donated since the last election to £123,345.

And John Penrose gave £10,000 to his Weston Super Mare constituency. Polls show both seats are under threat at the next election.

Labour's biggest backer overall was former Autoglass boss Gary Lubner, who gave £4.5million, while the largest single donation of £3million was provided by Lord David Sainsbury, the long-standing Labour supporter.

Lord Sainsbury was a major donor when the party was last in power, serving as a minister in Tony Blair's government.

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He later cut off his support to the party as it shifted to the left under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, but returned to the fold in 2022.

Labour Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: "Thanks to Keir Starmer's leadership, last year was our best fundraising year ever.

Labour will turn the page on 14 years of Tory failure with a plan to deliver the change Britain deserves."

Mikey Smith