Jeremy Hunt gives over £100,000 of his own money to local Tory party in bid to retain seat

Hunt is among a number of high profile Tory MPs predicted to lose their seats at the next general election

Jeremy Hunt

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has had to dig into his own pocket and give his local Tory association more than £100,000 in a bid to boost his chances of re-election, with polls showing that he is on course to lose his seat.

Hunt, who will be delivering the budget this week ahead of a general election, and who regularly bangs on about fiscal prudence, finds himself having to splash the cash on his own local Tory party, who have warned that their “balance sheet is at a less than satisfactory level”.

The Guardian reports on ‘Electoral Commission records which show that he has given £105,261 to the South-west Surrey Conservative association over the last five years.’

Hunt is among a number of high profile Tory MPs predicted to lose their seats at the next general election, which also includes the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Andrea Leadsom, Liam Fox, and Penny Mordaunt.

Commenting on the news of Hunt’s donations, a Labour source told the Guardian: “This tells you everything you need to know about the state of the Conservative party, with the chancellor seemingly spending more time dishing out personal cheques to prolong his political career than fixing the economy his government has wrecked.

“And on the same day the chancellor is talking about clamping down on money being wasted, he might want to look at how he is spending some of his own money.”

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

Comments are closed.