Donor of the Week: Flowidea Ltd
Author: Jon Narcross
Published on Sep 14, 2012
Our Donor of the Week series aims to shed some light on the people, companies and organisations who are funding our political parties. Each week, we’ll look at the chosen donor’s political involvement, their donation history and any controversy associated with their actions, and question whether this really is the best system for financing our politics.
Who they are:
- Flowidea is a City-based financial investment company, a subsidiary of the investment bank Arbuthnot Securities
- Flowidea is controlled by Henry Angest, a Swiss-born banker worth an estimated £69m
- Angest is also Chairman and Chief Executive of the Arbuthnot banking group, which includes Arbuthnot Securities and Arbuthnot Latham & Co., a private bank in which Angest owns a majority stake
- Angest was alleged to be one of 11 businessmen who supported Michael Portillo's bid for the Conservative leadership
Donations:
- Since 2001, Angest has given the Conservative Party £1.4m through Flowidea, of which nearly £30,000 to the Scottish Conservatives, making him one of the Conservatives largest UK donors
- Flowidea directly donated £10,000 to support the 2010 Conservative general election campaign in the marginal seat of Angus and £6,000 to bolster the Conservative hold over Totnes, a previously safe Tory seat rocked by the previous Tory MP's involvement in the expenses scandal
- Flowidea directly donated £5,000 to support Murdo Frazer's 2011 leadership campaign of the Scottish Conservatives
- Arbuthnot Latham & Co. provided the Tories with £5m worth of cheap loans for their 2010 general election campaign
Controversies:
- Angest, who is critical of the UK's “punitive tax system”, has dined with David Cameron at Number 10 and donated £12,500 through Flowidea just two weeks before a tax rate drop to 45p was announced in the 2012 Budget, sparking criticism that some in the City are using financial support as a means of exerting influence over banking reform legislation discussed by the coalition
- Angest declines to comment on whether he is a “non-dom”- someone who is legitimately entitled not to pay UK tax on their overseas earnings- feeding criticism that the Treasury is not doing enough to clamp down on tax avoidance by UK companies
- Flowidea has no website, online directories place the firm at various addresses in the City of London
- The Conservative party risk being embarrassed by being bankrolled to such an extent by Angest, who has also donated a total of £17,000 to Euro-sceptic groups with links to the UK Independence Party through Flowidea, including Global Britain, a think-tank co-founded by ex-Ukip leader Lord Pearson and Stuart Wheeler's 2008 legal battle for a referendum on the EU Lisbon Treaty, following which he gave £10,000 to Ukip and £1000 to Atlantic Bridge, a charity established by tarnished former Defence Secretary Liam Fox, which was accused of fostering links with the US radical Right
- Scottish Conservatives initially claimed that the money spent on defending the Angus seat was all raised in Scotland, though Flowidea are a City-based firm
Notes:
- Date of the donation is the date the donation was accepted by the party
- Analysis refers to donations to main party, individual MPs, MEPs, local parties and affiliated groups, cash donations and non-cash donations
- Electoral Commission Donation Reports have only been available since 2001, and analysis does not consider any donations made before this point
- Variations of the same name e.g. Joe Bloggs, Mr Joe Bloggs, Sir J Bloggs, etc are all collated as the same donor
- Donations from companies that have moved address, changed name or have several subdivisions all making donations are also collated as the same donor, as are all previous forms of the same Trade Unions