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The Conservative party has been fined almost £11,000 by the UK electoral watchdog after it failed to report accurately non-cash donations from a donor for three years.
Donations in the form of a seconded employee funded by Richard Harpin, founder of home repairs business HomeServe and a longtime donor to the Tories, were under-reported by more than £200,000.
The Electoral Commission said on Tuesday the donations covered the period when the employee went from part-time to full-time work between April 2020 and December 2023.
The regulator added that the governing Conservative party also reported late a single non-cash donation relating to the same employee in December last year.
Louise Edwards, a director at the Electoral Commission, said it had found that about 20 donations made by Harpin had been “inaccurately reported or reported late” by the Conservatives.
“The political finance laws we enforce are there to ensure transparency in how parties are funded and to increase public confidence in our system, so it’s important donations are fully and clearly reported,” she added.
The party was forced to pay two fines totalling £10,750 on March 6, although it maintained the under-reporting was the result of an “administrative error” and was “not deliberate”.
The announcement of the fine comes after the dispute over the Tories’ acceptance of donations amounting to more than £10mn from Frank Hester.
Last week, the healthcare technology entrepreneur was reported to have said in 2019 that looking at Diane Abbott, Britain’s first female Black MP, made “you just want to hate all Black women”.
Downing Street described the remarks as “racist and wrong” more than 24 hours after they were first reported.
At prime minister’s questions, Rishi Sunak — who in December accepted a donation-in-kind of a helicopter trip worth £15,900 from the businessman — said Hester had apologised and that his “remorse should be accepted”. The prime minister said he did not intend to reimburse Hester for the helicopter ride.
Harpin, who secured a £300mn windfall after selling his business to Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management for £4bn two years ago, has donated about £765,000 to the Conservatives in the past year, according to Electoral Commission data. He has given £3mn to the party since 2008.
Sunak’s party received £47.4mn in donations last year, well above the £35mn limit on election spending and more than double the main opposition Labour party.
The Conservatives were fined a record £70,000 in March 2017 after the regulator found “significant failures” in its campaign spending at three by-elections in 2014 and at the 2015 general election.
In December 2021, the party paid a fine of £17,800 after failing to deliver an accurate quarterly donation report and keep accurate accounting records.
The Conservative party said: “After becoming aware of an administrative error, the party self-reported to the Electoral Commission. We accept its findings and appreciate that the Electoral Commission accepts that this was not deliberate.”
This post was originally published on Financial Times
