Top Tory defends ‘flood’ of get together donors into Lords as Truss allies take oath

A Tory minister has hit again at criticism over a “flood of Tory donors” getting into the House of Lords – on the day two Liz Truss allies took their oaths

Jon Moynihan, who donated £50,000 to Ms Truss’ management marketing campaign, was made a peer by the previous PM in her resignation honours record. Rishi Sunak got here underneath fireplace for not blocking his predecessor’s appointments following her catastrophic 49 days in No10.

Also launched to the Lords at the moment was Matthew Elliott, the previous chief of the Vote Leave marketing campaign for Brexit. Labour backbench peer Lord George Foulkes voiced his displeasure by asking a Defra minister: “Can the minister tell the House what can be done to stem the flood of Tory donors to the House of Lords?”

The query was met with laughter from throughout the chamber. Tory minister Lord Robert Douglas-Miller smiled as he responded: “I’m not sure why we would want to do that.”

Electoral fee figures present Lord Moynihan donated virtually £570,000 to the Tory Party between 2001 and 2023. This sum included two donations – totalling over £53,000 – to Ms Truss’s management marketing campaign in 2022.

He additionally donated £100,000 to Boris Johnson in the summertime of 2019. On prime of that, Electoral Commission data reveal he gave greater than £60,000 to Vote Leave within the build-up to the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Lord Elliott, a former chief government of the Taxpayers Alliance, ran the Vote Leave marketing campaign. The Government confronted heavy criticism after the discharge of Ms Truss’s resignation honours record in December.

Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth blasted: “This list is proof positive of Rishi Sunak’s weakness and a slap in the face to working people who are paying the price of the Tories crashing the economy.

“Honours needs to be for these dedicated to public service, not rewards for Tory failure. Rather than apologise for crashing the economic system and driving up mortgage charges, costing households 1000’s, Rishi Sunak has nodded via these tarnished gongs as a result of he’s too weak to steer a Tory get together utterly out of contact with working individuals.”

Deputy Lib Dem Leader Daisy Cooper added: “This shameless transfer to reward Liz Truss’s automotive crash cronies is matched solely by Sunak’s weak spot in failing to dam it. Truss fingers out gongs after blowing a gap within the public funds and leaving households reeling from spiraling mortgage prices calls this entire honours system into disrepute.

But Ms Truss stated in a press release: “I am delighted these champions for the conservative causes of freedom, limited government and a proud sovereign Britain have been suitably honoured.”