Conservative profit on freehold purchase

The Tory party benefited from buying the freehold of its Smith Square headqarters from Westminster council in the early 1980s, it was confirmed last night. The party made a profit estimated at more than pounds 2m when it resold to Royal Insurance a year later. The party said that a report of the freehold deal was 'ancient history' and was unable to confirm a report in the Daily Mirror today that it had been bought for pounds 1,325,000 and resold at pounds 3,750,000.

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