Hedge fund founder Alan Howard donates £1m to Conservative Party

Hedge fund founder Alan Howard has pledged a £1 million donation to the Conservative Party, marking his largest single contribution to the party thus far. Howard, co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management, is one of the UK’s most successful hedge fund managers and is based in Switzerland. He ranked 100th on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List with a fortune of £1.75 billion. In addition to his previous donations to the Tories, Howard is a notable philanthropist, supporting homelessness and Holocaust charities, among others.

It is uncertain whether the seven-figure donation will appear on the list published by the Electoral Commission on Thursday. A source indicated that the pledge may have been received in early April, just after the March cut-off point for publication this week. If this is the case, Howard’s donation will be made public in September.

The news of Howard’s contribution comes as political parties seek to fund their election campaigns, with the UK set to hold general elections by the end of next year. Last month, Mohamed Mansour, an Egyptian-born billionaire and the Tories’ senior treasurer, announced a £5 million donation to the party, reportedly its largest in over two decades. Mansour praised Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s management of the economy and noted that the prime minister understands the significance of technology and innovation.

The Tories’ financial situation has been somewhat affected by the division of Brexit sentiment within the parliamentary party and its donors. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was considered a lucrative leader, attracting wealthy donors such as Lord Bamford, the JCB tycoon, and Lord Cruddas, the CMC Markets founder. However, their enthusiasm for supporting the party financially has waned since Johnson’s ousting, prompting the party’s treasurers to seek alternative funding sources.

This week, it was also revealed that the Labour Party received a new multimillion-pound donation from Gary Lubner, former CEO of Autoglass. Lubner told the Financial Times that he wants Sir Keir Starmer to lead the Labour Party into government and remain there for “a long time.” The newspaper reported that Lubner is expected to donate around £5 million to help fund the party’s election campaign.

Spokespeople for Brevan Howard and the Conservative Party both declined to comment on the matter.