Tories ‘rewarding chums’ with peerages after donor handed knighthood
David Harding has given £475,000 to Boris Johnson since he became prime minister in mid-2019.
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by
Henry Goodwin
2022-01-01 14:58
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Politics
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The Tories have been accused of “rewarding their chums” after a hedge fund manager who has donated almost £1.5 million to the party was handed a knighthood.
David Harding, the founder of Winton Capital hedge fund, has given £475,000 to Boris Johnson since he became prime minister in mid-2019.
He was knighted in the new year honours list for services to philanthropy, after giving large sums of cash to the Science Museum and the University of Cambridge.
‘Rewarding their chums’
Anneliese Dodds, Labour Party chair, said: “It seems the Conservatives are ringing in the new year in exactly the same way they’ve seen out the old: by rewarding their chums with gongs instead of our key worker heroes.
“If you want Boris Johnson to recommend you for a knighthood, don’t bother working long hours on low wages to help others – just become a hedge fund manager and donate half a million pounds to the Tories.”
Four Conservative MPs received awards, including a knighthood for backbencher Bill Wiggin, whose work for offshore investment firms netted him £73,000 on top of his MPs’ salary.
Robert Buckland, the former justice minister, was also knighted – as was Robert Goodwill, a former minister.