A quarter of the UK's richest people give money to the Conservative Party

Lord Ashcroft has donated £6.1m to the Conservative Party (Getty Images)

Almost a quarter of the richest people in the country are Conservative Party donors, according to a study by the GMB trade union. Since 2001, the Tories have received donations of some £83m from 248 out of the top 1,000 on the Sunday Times Rich List, the research revealed.

Tetra Pak billionaire Hans Rausing and his family were shown to have given £886,000 to the party. Peter Cruddas and Lord Ashcroft, two significant Tory donors, also made the Rich List. Mr Cruddas gave £1.4m, while Lord Ashcroft gave £6.1m. The Fleming family, a banking dynasty worth £1.5bn, donated £1.4m to the Tories.