Donor of the Week: Peter Cruddas
Author: Jack Maizels
Published on Aug 17, 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 he is:
- A businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune with CMC Markets, which he founded in 1989
- The company, for which he serves as Executive Chairman, deals in spread betting, foreign exchange and the trade of gold and oil
- In 2007, he sold a 10% stake in the firm to investment banking giants Goldman Sacs, helping Cruddas to accumulate his current estimated wealth of £750m
- In June 2011, in entered the world of party politics when he was appointed as the Conservative Party’s Co-Treasurer
Donations:
- He first donated to the Conservative Party in November 2009, a sum of £200,000
- His most recent donations were in March 2012, when he donated £215,243.90, bringing his total given to the Party to £1,022,795.66
- In 2011, he gave £399,551.76 to the Conservatives and £400,000 to the No2AV campaign
Controversy:
- In March 2012, less than 2 weeks after he had given the Conservatives over £200,000, Cruddas was embroiled in the Cash for Access scandal by undercover reporters from the Sunday Times
- He informed the journalists, who said they from an overseas wealth fund, that large donations to his party would grant them access to Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne
- He described donations of £250,000 as “premier league” and would allow donors a chance to influence government policy, before claiming that it would be “awesome for your business”
- The revelations forced Cruddas to immediately resign from his role as Conservative Party Co-Treasurer
- The Conservatives swiftly replaced him with Lord Stanley Fink, who has given nearly £2.5m to the Party
- 4 months later, it was revealed that he was to launch a lawsuit against the Sunday Times, seeking unlimited damages, for libel and malicious falsehood, as well as an injunction to prevent the paper from repeating its allegations
- His initial appointment as Co-Treasurer also attracted criticism as he was domiciled in Monaco for tax purposes until 2009, when he first started his political donations
- The timing of his donations was also questioned, with a £400,000 gift to the No2AV campaign coming shortly before his appointment, and a similar figure to the Conservatives coming shortly after
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