Liz Truss resigns: shortest-lived premiership in UK history cost donors more than £12,000 per day

Liz Truss raised more than £500,000 worth of donations during the Conservative leadership contest
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Conservative donors gave more than half a million pounds to Liz Truss’ for her successful leadership campaign, equating to over £12,000 for every day she was in office.

Truss has faced renewed criticism following the publication of a 4000-word article in the Sunday Telegraph in which she was never given a “realistic chance” to implement her radical tax-cutting agenda by her party and by a “powerful economic establishment ... that had shifted left-wards”.

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Truss resigned in October, becoming the shortest-serving PM in UK history, saying that she could not “deliver on the mandate” given to her by Conservative MPs.

Her two highest donors gave the equivalent of £2,273 per day that she has been in office prior to announing her resignation.

£12,000 per day

In the months before she won the Conservative leadership election, Truss received donations totalling £537,939 including £95,849 worth of transport to help her campaign. The outgoing prime minister received 27 separate donations from 24 sources in the final weeks of the Conservative leadership election.

Among her donors were a number of wealthy backers who had previously provided funding for Boris Johnson. Both of her top donors were women, with Fitriani Hay providing a single donation of £100,000 and Nathasha Barnaba twice donating £50,000.

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Hay is a prominent Conservative donor who has now given the party more than £750,000 since 2015, although her last donation prior to her contribution to the Truss campaign, of £150,000, came in 2017. Hay is married to Scottish businessman James Hay, head of the JMH Group and a former executive at BP.

Barnaba, the wife of former JP Morgan senior executive Alessandro Barnaba, is a first-time donor to the Conservative Party. Her husband held a number of roles at the international investment bank before co-chairing a major hedge fund and later joining a digital healthcare firm as a senior adviser.

The majority of the donations came from just six individuals.

The other top donors to Truss’ campaign were Jon Moynihan Howard Shore, Graham Edwards, Michael Spencer, and Jon Moynihan, who gave £53,265, £50,000, £50,00 and £25,000 respectively. Between them, Nathasha Barnaba, and Fitriani Hay, Truss received £345,000 in cash donations.

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Truss was criticised at the time for potentially evading scrutiny after none of her donations were made public prior to the conclusion of the leadership contest.

Despite the majority of her donations being received in mid-late July, they were not published in the register of members’ financial interests until early September.

However, as the rules state that any donations must be registered within 28 days of being received, in all but one case - a £4,356 donation for transport received on 15 July and not registered until 15 August - the donations were registered in accordance with the rules.

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