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Former Tory donor Arron Banks ups Ukip donation to £1million following William Hague 'nobody' comment | |
(35 minutes later) | |
The former Tory donor and multi-millionaire Arron Banks has announced he is upping his Ukip donation to £1 million to spite the Conservatives, after William Hague made a joke at his expense. | |
Mr Banks' announcement, made alongside the Ukip leader Nigel Farage, came as David Cameron delivered a blunt warning to disillusioned Conservatives that a flirtation with Ukip at the next general election could lead to a Labour government. | |
Mr Farage's riposte came just hours later, when Mr Banks explained he had decided to increase his donation from £100,000 to £1 million pounds after William Hague, the Leader of the Commons, dismissed the significance of his defection. | |
Mr Banks, who runs the insurance company Go Skippy, has previously funded the Tories to the tune of £250,000, Ukip claimed, although that figure was disputed by the Conservatives. | |
He explained he had decided to increase his donation from pounds 100,000 to pounds 1m after William Hague, the Leader of the Commons, dismissed the significance of the defection. | |
Mr Hague had told the BBC: "I have never heard of him, so we are not going to get too upset about that." | |
"It’s certainly not going to overshadow the Prime Minister’s speech today that someone we haven’t heard of has gone to Ukip." | |
The huge donation was the latest in a series of announcements by Ukip designed to disrupt the Tories’ final party conference before the general election. | |
Over the weekend Mark Reckless followed fellow MP Douglas Carswell in jumping ship and triggering Commons by-elections and speculation dogged the conference that a third Tory MP could be about to follow suit. | |
Explaining his decision to increase the donation, Mr Banks told reporters he “woke up this morning intending to donate £100,000 to Ukip”. | |
“I understand Mr Hague called me a… nobody, so in light of that and in view of the fact that I’m a strong advocate of leaving the European Union, I’ve decided today to donate £1 million to the party and not the £100,000 we originally agreed,” he said. |