Tories raise £100,000 by auctioning off 'Ed Stone' replica at exclusive summer party for donors
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Version 0 of 1. Labour's infamous 'Ed Stone' helped the Conservatives win an unexpected majority at the election and now it is providing the party a solid source of revenue. The 8ft 6in slab of limestone with Ed Miliband's six main election pledges carved into it was widely mocked when the Labour leader unveiled it in a car park in Hastings just days before the election. It was designed in a bid to convince voters to trust Mr Miliband after years of political leaders breaking their promises in office. But it back-fired so spectacularly that Tory supporters are desperate to get their hands on a copy and the party raised a staggering £100,000 by auctioning off a replica of the 'Ed Stone' at the party's exclusive summer ball at the luxury Hurlingham Club. The Tory replica of Ed Miliband's infamous 'Ed Stone' that was bought for £100,000 at a Tory party auction A stonemasons estimated the cost of making a replica 'Ed Stone' would be around £30,000. It is the second Ed Stone replica known to have been made, after The Sun reported that Tory donor David Ross commissioned a copy to be erected in the grounds of his 3,800-acre country estate. The Prime Minister's wife Samantha was on hand to draw the raffle at the party. The gift that attracted the biggest offer was a signed photo of the first majority Conservative Cabinet in 18 years, which sold for an astonishing £200,000. Other gifts auctioned included a week at a private Jamaican villa for 17 people, drinks for 100 at the London Cabaret Club, a day in Tunsmore Park, where guests can shoot "an array of birds", while a less glamorous prize was a JCB digger. The last item on the list was kindly donated by one of the party's biggest donors - the Bamford family, the billionaire owners of JCB who have benefited from a spending spree on an advertisement scheme by a government department - UK Export Finance. Earlier this year the Tories hosted a plush pre-election fundraising party for their donors, charging £15,000 a table and auctioning off luxury gifts, such as private jet getaways to Italy, Swiss chalets, pheasant shooting trips – and signed copies of George Osborne’s budget. According to reports from sources close to the former Labour leader, the notorious 'Ed Stone' slipped through 10 meetings because party advisers were obsessed with finding a way to counter the Conservatives scaremongering voters over the threat of Labour doing a deal with the SNP. |