Politics

Boris Johnson received a £24k ‘gift’ from Tory donor for wedding party

Boris Johnson has registered a near £24,000 donation covering aspects of his wedding party including flowers, a South African barbecue and an ice cream van.

Records published on Thursday showed Lord Anthony and Lady Carole Bamford stumped up the cash to also cover marquee hire, portaloos, catering and waiting staff.

Lord Bamford, a major Tory donor and the chairman of the construction equipment manufacturer JCB, hosted the party for the then prime minister and wife Carrie on July 30.

The Johnsons were joined by family and friends at the 18th-century Daylesford House in the Cotswolds to celebrate after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to scale back their wedding day.

The £23,853 donation detailed in the latest register of MPs’ financial interests showed the party included a braai, a type of South African barbecue.

Mr Johnson has repeatedly benefited from Lord Bamford’s donations, with the billionaire Tory peer supporting the MP’s 2019 bid to become Conservative leader.

The ex-PM would make visits to JCB plants in front of the media’s gaze, including to a factory in India and a Staffordshire plant where he used a digger to knock down a wall in a stunt to demonstrate he could “get Brexit done”.

Lord Bamford’s wife, Lady Carole Bamford, established the upmarket Daylesford Organic Farm, with a chain of shops selling its produce across London.

Related: Truss received six-figure donation from the wife of a former BP executive during leadership campaign

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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