Fat cats and final requests as Herald-area MPs declare general election donations

A former mayor and town councillor dipped into her pocket to help Gregory Stafford win the Farnham & Bordon seat for the Conservatives.

But the £3,000 from Pat Frost was small change compared to other donations that MPs around Surrey, East Hants and the Meon Valley received to boost their general election bids – with one amounting to a staggering £43,000.

The donations declared in the updated Register of Members’ Financial Interests were not given directly to MPs, but are linked as they were received by a local party organisation, or indirectly via a central party organisation.

Mr Stafford’s is the lowest locally as he has declared three donations totalling £11,500 – with £5,000 being the highest of the trio – according to the November 25 update.

East Hampshire MP, Damian Hinds, also declared three donations worth a total of £17,500 with £10,000 being handed over by Sir Desmond Pitcher, who some may remember from the ‘Fat Cat’ scandal in the 90s.

Alex Baker benefited from seven donations totalling £31,350 with GMB Southern and Unison handing over sums of £8k and £2k to the Labour hopeful for Aldershot.

And it turns out that Andrew Griffith – the MP for Arundel and South Downs whose constituency includes Fernhurst, Milland, The Hartings and Rother Valley – has something in common with Nigel Farage.

Both MPs accepted a donation from JC Bamford Excavations (JCB) with Mr Griffith getting £20k and the Reform leader declaring £8,314 for a helicopter ride for two.

Winchester MP Danny Chambers received even more as the Estate of Dr Joan Read of Alresford left the politician £43,400 to win the constituency back for the Liberal Democrats, with half the 20 donors gifting sums of £2,000 or more.

Details for every MP can be found here: https://shorturl.at/1qrai