One of the Conservative party’s most prominent financial backers has emerged as the source of a six-figure donation to the Brexit party.
Jeremy Hosking, who owns a significant share in Crystal Palace FC, said he had given the newly formed party £200,000 and he knew of up to four other people who had pledged or given similar sums.
The Brexit party has reportedly raised more than £2m in donations, but its leader, Nigel Farage, had refused to reveal the identities of the major donors owing to a reluctance to subject them to scrutiny.
“I have given £200,000 and urge all who wish to see a proper conservative party in Britain to support the BP as much as they can,” Hosking told the Telegraph. “If the Conservatives insist on diluting Brexit, what hope is there on other issues where a robust Conservative position needs to be advocated?
“I apologise to the stormtroopers of the politically correct ‘Brexit reversal conspiracy’ that, inconveniently for them, I am a British citizen and resident taxpayer, not a Russian oligarch.”
The financier, who gave £350,000 to Tory candidates in the 2017 election, told the FT he would support the Brexit party in a general election, and he called on pro-Brexit voters to abandon the Conservatives.
Farage’s party is ahead in the polls for the European elections and claims about 88,000 people have paid a £25 fee to become registered supporters.
Hosking, 60, previously gave more than £1.7m to Vote Leave during the 2016 EU referendum campaign, and has given more than £1m to the Brexit Express campaign, which is demanding “no backsliding on Brexit”.
On 29 March, the day the UK was scheduled to leave the EU, Hosking ran a “Brexit Express” train from Swansea to Sunderland, with guests including the former Brexit secretary David Davis and the former Brexit minister Steve Baker.
A Brexit party spokesperson said: “I can confirm that Mr Hosking is a donor to the party. All other donor information will be published in due course by the Electoral Commission.”