City financiers 'provided half of Tory funding' - Telegraph.co.uk

The top ten City figures gave £13.16m to the Tories – 13 per cent of Central Office funding over the past five years. David Rowland, who was briefly party treasurer after the general election, was the top donor.

Two of the top City donors were granted peerages in 2010 - Stanley Fink and George Magan.

The research will be of heightened interest coming as it does as George Osborne, the Chancellor, imposes an increased levy on banks to try and head off accusations that he and the Prime Minister have admitted defeat in trying to rein in bonuses.

A Conservative party spokesman said: "On the very day that the chancellor raised another £800m in tax from bankers – having already introduced the toughest rules on bankers' pay anywhere in the developed world – it beggars belief that anyone could claim that donors to the Conservatives are influencing policy. It would be more pertinent to ask why Labour continue to allow their policy to be dictated by the unions, who provide 80% of their funds."

Dr Stuart Wilks-Heeg, leading authority on political party funding at the University of Liverpool, said: "The findings raise issues about how influenced and impartial the Conservatives are as they set about reforming and regulating the banking industry.

"It is admittedly difficult to prove that because parties access money from specific sources that there is a feed through into the policies they adopt.

"Yet, given we have just experienced a blowout in the financial system, and are witnessing an ongoing struggle over its regulation, the scale of Conservative Party funding from the City must be an issue – not least for a party committed to 'taking big money out of politics'. This is a very important piece of work."

John Cryer MP, a member of the Treasury select committee, said: "With over half of Conservative Party funds coming from the City, it's no wonder this Tory-led government is letting the banks off the hook.

"George Osborne is giving the banks a tax cut compared to last year and is refusing to adopt Labour's plan to repeat last year's £3.5 billion bank bonus tax as well as the bank levy.

"Even with yesterday's panic announcement the Tory-led government is taking less from the banks than the Labour government did last year. And there is still no sign of a deal on increased bank lending, greater transparency and restraint on bonuses.

"People will now suspect that the real reason why George Osborne has been so soft is that he cannot afford to upset his paymasters."

A Tory spokesman said last night it "beggar's belief" that anyone could suggest bankers could influence Tory policy on the day the Party announced an increase in the banking levy.