Johnson supporters helped Liz Truss raise almost £425,000 for leadership bid

Almost half of the money raised by Liz Truss for her leadership campaign came from two women.

Liz Truss’s leadership campaign raised more than £400,000. (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Wire)

Major Tory donors and Boris Johnson supporters helped Liz Truss raise more than £420,000 for her leadership challenge.

Updates to the MPs’ Register of Interest published on Thursday show the new Prime Minister received support worth £424,349 as she bid for the Conservative leadership.

Ms Truss secured the support of some of former prime minister Mr Johnson’s key financial backers, including JCB chairman Lord Bamford, private investor Howard Shore and Brexiteer businessman Jon Moynihan.

Lord Bamford covered transport costs worth £5,316, while Mr Shore donated £50,000 and Mr Moynihan £20,000.

Ms Truss’s two largest donations came from women – Fitriani Hay and Natasha Barnaba – who donated £100,000 each.

Lord Bamford (right) has been a major financial backer of Boris Johnson and donated £5,316 to Liz Truss’s leadership campaign (PA) (PA Wire)

Mrs Hay has already donated more than £550,000 to the Conservatives since 2015, including paying £50,000 to cover some of Mr Johnson’s staff costs in 2016.

She is the wife of James Hay, chairman of the Dubai-based JMH Group and, according to the Sunday Times, worth £325 million in 2021.

The couple are also successful racehorse owners.

There are few records of Ms Barnaba and she does not appear to have made a political donation before.

Other donors to Ms Truss’s campaign include Lance Anisfeld, also known as Lance Forman, a former Brexit Party MEP who donated £10,000 to the new Prime Minister through his company, Smoked Salmon.

Mr Anisfeld has made a number of controversial claims on Twitter and in 2018 claimed climate change is a “myth”.

Former Conservative Party treasurer Lord (Michael) Spencer donated £25,000 to Ms Truss’s campaign, making her the third candidate he backed during the leadership election.

According to the MPs’ Register of Interests, Lord Spencer initially backed Penny Mordaunt with £25,000 on July 19, but after she was eliminated the next day switched his allegiance to Rishi Sunak.

Lord Spencer donated £25,000 to Mr Sunak on July 26 but, a week later on August 2, made his donation to Ms Truss.

In total, Mr Sunak raised £446,765 towards his leadership campaign, only slightly more than his rival.

His single largest donor was Chris Rea, a Northern Irish businessman, who gave £100,000.

Other significant donors to the former chancellor’s campaign included millionaire property developer Nick Leslau, whose company Yoginvest donated £50,000, and Tory peer Lord (Michael) Farmer.

Lord Farmer donated £15,000 in cash and another £23,470 in the form of a private plane. Another donor, James Diner, provided £5,100 for use of a plane along with £10,000 cash.