Billionaire Tory donor throws his help behind Nigel Farage and items £200,000 to Reform UK
Billionaire Conservative donor Lord Bamford has thrown his support behind Reform UK – with his company donating £200,000 to Nigel Farage‘s party.
The JCB tycoon, who has given more than £9million to the Tories and even hosted Boris Johnson‘s wedding, revealed his latest intentions over the weekend.
This came alongside a £200,000 donation to the Conservatives as the Staffordshire-based heavy machinery manufacturer said it had favoured both parties as they ‘believe in small business’.
JCB is the world’s third largest construction equipment company with 22 plants on four continents, employing 19,000 people worldwide and last year had a sales turnover of £5.8billion.
In a statement announcing the donations, JCB said: ‘Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and there are 5.6million of them in Britain today, employing at least 13million people.
‘JCB has more than 800 suppliers in the UK and the vast majority of them are also small to medium sized businesses.
‘As a privately-owned British family business, JCB has been backing Britain since 1945 and is supportive of pro-business political parties that create the conditions for these businesses to grow and prosper.
‘Both the Conservative Party and Reform UK believe in small business and it’s for that reason JCB has donated £200,000 to each in recent weeks.’
JCB tycoon Lord Bamford has has thrown his support behind Reform UK – with his company donating £200,000 to Nigel Farage’s party. Pictured: Lord Bamford and Lady Carole Bamford
At the launch of Reform’s local election campaign in March, Mr Farage arrived at his keynote speech riding one of JCB’s pothole repairing machines
Lord Bamford, given a peerage by former Prime Minister David Cameron in 2013, was among the Tories’ largest donors during Mr Johnson’s premiership, handing the party more than £3million.
His family is one of the richest in Britain with wealth of £9.5billion.
Although the billionaire had not previously donated to Mr Farage’s party, JCB was an official exhibitor at Reform’s party conference in September.
And at the launch of Reform’s local election campaign in March, Mr Farage arrived at his keynote speech riding one of JCB’s pothole repairing machines.
The donation marks the latest shift by Lord Bamford to build closer connections with Reform after funding an £8,000 helicopter trip for Mr Farage last year.
Thanking Lord Bamford at a Reform press conference on Monday, Mr Farage said: ‘They’ve given a lot of money to the Conservatives over the years.
‘But they’re giving us some money because they know we are pro-entrepreneurship, they know we are pro-startup, they know that we are pro-small business.’
