Bureau Recommends: Adam Werritty donors also gave to Tory party
Three individuals who contributed to the ‘slush fund’ of Adam Werritty, the unofficial advisor of former Defence Secretary Liam Fox, also gave money to the Conservative party in the weeks prior to the revelation of the scandal according to a report in the Guardian.
Michael Lewis, Mick Davis and Polu Zabludowicz gave £73,200 to the Tories in the three months leading up to September. All of them donated money to Pargav, the company that funded Adam Werritty’s trips around the world.
Liam Fox resigned as Defence Secretary in October following previous revelations by the Guardian that he had granted Werritty, who had been the best man at his wedding, access to the Ministry of Defence as well as official visits in his capacity as a cabinet minister. Werritty had also distributed business cards describing himself as an advisor to Fox which appeared to be official.
Lewis, who runs Oceana Investments as well as the lobby group Bicom, gave £10,000 to the Conservative Party headquarters in September. Oceana was named in a Cabinet Office report as a funder of Pargav. Mick Davis, the chief executive of Xstrata, gave £48,500 to Tory headquarters, as well as a further £5,000 to Harlow Conservative Association and £7,500 to Michael Gove’s office.
Zabludowicz gave more than £2,000 to the Finchley and Golders Green constituency office in August. His company, Tamares, gave money to Pargav.
The Bureau investigated Tory party funding earlier this year, finding that 27% of all central office cash came from hedge funds, private equity companies and financiers. Over 50% of the party’s money comes from the Square Mile.
