Lib Dem donation figures in full (Q3, 2011)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 30th November 2011 - 12:57 pm

The Electoral Commission has this past week published the latest donation and borrowing figures for the political parties, showing that the Lib Dems raised £1,199,623 between July and September this year.

(At the foot of this post is the full breakdown of donations (excluding public funds) received by quarter since 2005, and annually between 2001 and 2004.)

By comparison, the party raised £571,715 in the third quarter of 2006 (the equivalent stage of the parliamentary cycle), suggesting a far more sustainable level of fundraising success is now being achieved; although the party has been hit very hard since its move into government by the loss of ‘Short Money’ paid to opposition parties.

Here’s the breakdown of all donations (excluding public funds) by source:

Five/six-figure donations coming from the following: Methuen Liberal Trust Fund (£580,272), Bloomberg Tradebook (£60,000), Ministry of Sound Ltd (£58,661), Roy Brown (£30,000), Lord Strasburger (£25,000), Heather Stevens (£22,489), KPMG (£17,000), Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd £13,125), Anthony Bunker (£11,250), Charles Brand (£10,000), Ardeshir Naghshineh (£10,000), Dominic Mathon (£10,000).

45 elected Lib Dems or peers contributed this quarter – those who gave £1k+ I spot-checked were: Dave Hodgson (£5k), Vince Cable (£2,776), Lord Alliance (£2.5k), Lord Trafford (£2.4k), Norman Baker (£2.4k), Alan Beith (£2.25k), Danny Alexander (£2.25k), Alan Reid (£2.13k), Baroness Hamwee (£2k), Lord Bradshaw (£2k), Lord Goodhart (£2k), Lord Tordoff (£2k), Baroness Williams (£1.98k), Baroness Neuberger (£1.8k), Lord Goodhart (£1.8k), Lord Rodgers (£1.8k), Lord Tyler (£1.8k), Lynne Featherstone (£1.8k), Baroness Kramer (£1.6k), Baroness Maddock (£1.6k), Baroness Northover (£1.6k), Baroness Partminter (£1.6k), Baroness Sharp of Guildford (£1.6k), Earl of Mar and Kellie (£1.6k), Lord Fearn (£1.6k), Lord Jones (£1.6k), Lord Newby (£1.6k), Lord Razzall (£1.6k), Lord Roberts of Llandudno (£1.6k), Lord Sharkey (£1.6k), Lord Sharman (£1.6k), Lord Shipley (£1.6k), Lord Shutt (£1.6k), Lord Taverne (£1.6k), Lord Tope (£1.6k), Lord Vallance (£1.6k), Lord Wallace of Saltaire (£1.6k), Lord Wallace of Tankerness (£1.6k), Jo Swinson (£1.6k), Baroness Sharp of Guildford (£1.5k), Andrew Stunnell (£1.5k), Duncan Hames (£1.35k), Annette Brooke (£1.2k), Stephen Gilbert (£1.08k), Steve Webb (£1.02k).

Our figures are of course dwarfed by the Tories and Labour fundraising among their friends in big business and the trade unions. Labour raised four times the Lib Dems’ total donations from trade unions alone — £3.1m in the third quarter of this year. In stark contrast, the party raised just £120k from only 18 individuals, about one-third of what the Lib Dems achieved in the same period. The Conservatives, meanwhile, were more successful in raising money from individuals (£1.8m), but were also very heavily reliant on their friends in big business, receiving some £837k from corprorate gifts.

In terms of outstanding loans, however, the Lib Dems are in a much healthier position. The party has £432,572 registered with the Electoral Commission, compared with £2.7m for the Tories, and a stonking £9.9m of loans helping keep Labour afloat.

Not susprisingly, this is a tricky time for the Lib Dems, in government for the first time in 80 years, and having to fight opponents with deep-pocketed friends and a hostile media. So if you are in a position to help the Liberal Democrats fight on a level-playing field, there has never been a more important time to do so. You can donate to the national party using this secure link.

Here are a few of the ways in which your gift can make a difference to the party’s campaigning in the months ahead:

Here are the full Lib Dem donation figures, 2001-11:

2011, Q1 = £810,029
2011, Q2 = £1,012,794
2011, Q3 = £1,199,623
2011 (to date) = £3,022,446

2010, Q1 = £1,931,147
2010, Q2 = £2,047,071
2010, Q3 = £371,861
2010, Q4 = £532,033
2010 = £4,882,112

2009, Q1 = £790,075
2009, Q2 = £1,088,083
2009, Q3 = £747,658
2009, Q4 = £1,045,817
2009 = £3,671,633

2008, Q1 = £385,931
2008, Q2 = £635,435
2008, Q3 = £519,823
2008, Q4 = £875,611
2008 = £2,416,800

2007, Q1 = £607,457
2007, Q2 = £631,451
2007, Q3 = £731,364
2007, Q4 = £853,387
2007 = £2,823,659

2006, Q1 = £219,915
2006, Q2 = £233,669
2006, Q3 = £571,715
2006, Q4 = £1,643,859
2006 = £2,669,158

2005, Q1 = £3,709,897
2005, Q2 = £713,656
2005, Q3 = £174,751
2005, Q4 = £317,188
2005 = £4,915,492

2004 = £2,374,319

2003 = £1,223,135

2002 = £618,783

2001 = £1,052,010

8 Comments

P 30th Nov '11 - 3:38pm

Why are do a number of peers pay between £1.6k and £2k – are they making contributions to a scheme?
Nick (notClegg) 30th Nov '11 - 4:06pm

Is there some significance in the figure £1.6; it seems to be a popular amount in the above list?
Niklas Smith 30th Nov '11 - 5:09pm

When you say “all donations”, surely you mean “all donations reportable to the Electoral Commission”? That’s a different kettle of fish – the Electoral Commission only requires that donations of at least £7500 per year to the central party be reported (as well as donations of £1500 or more coming from a donor already reported in the same year).

Obviously most donation income will come from the big donors, but we lose valuable information by not knowing how many smaller donations were made.
Erlend Watson 30th Nov '11 - 5:14pm

Re the £1.6K donations. I believe when the Lords parliamentary party lost out on the ‘Cranborne’ money they wanted to keep having staff and asked their members if they could contribute. This sounds like the recommended figure.
tonyhill 30th Nov '11 - 5:50pm

Baroness Sharp of Guildford is down twice in the list contributing different amounts. Mistake?
David 30th Nov '11 - 6:52pm

Baroness Sharp is correctly on the list twice one donation is to the lords group and one to her local party. Lord Goodhart is down twice for the same reason.

David
Hywel 30th Nov '11 - 8:30pm

@Niklas – also donations direct to election campaigns won’t appear as they are declared on the agents return which don’t get included in this figures (though rules about eligiblity still apply. So if for example I donate £500 to 10 election candidates it won’t show up on the above lists

If you knock out the Methuen Fund money (which is connected with winding up a now defunct pension scheme with no remaining beneficiaries) its about the same as the 2006 figure you quote

But why aren’t the 10% of ministerial salary contributions showing up from all ministers. Certainly on checking for Nick Clegg he hasn’t made a declared donation since 2008 (though there may be technical reasons why he and others don’t show up). However, in 2011 we budgeted to receive £40,000 from this, for the 2012 budget that has been reduced to £30,000 and my question to conference in September about why this was reduced has still not been answered so maybe someone can provide some clarification.

Also Paul Burstow helped write the “Bones Commission” report which made it mandatory for Councillors to contribute from their allowances to the party. He hasn’t made a declared donation since 2006.
Hywel 30th Nov '11 - 8:38pm

In the interests of fairness, I have emailed Paul and Nick drawing their attention to this piece and my comments above and inviting them to add any further information they feel is relevant.