We all know that “money talks” in politics. Political campaigns are really expensive and Labour and the Lib Dems can struggle to raise funds. They can’t rely on wealthy donors like Raab does.
He spent a fortune on highly-targeted Facebook adverts in a failed bid to become Tory leader and someone has to pay for it all. Welcome to the murky world of political funding.
Raab spent a whopping £56,000+ on Facebook adverts during his failed bid to become Tory leader – more than his rivals COMBINED. So that was money well spent wich could have been donated to a Cobham foodbank or Walton-on-Thames charity.
“A total 22 adverts that were paid for by the Dominic Raab Leadership Campaign 2019 were also removed by Facebook for breaching its advertising policies..” states Politics Home.
Lazy Raab likes to campaign from his computer. Knocking on doors in Esher and Walton is hard work. It is also high risk – it will mean he is likely to meet constituents and most of them voted REMAIN. They won’t be inviting him in for tea and biscuits.
They don’t support his NO-DEAL Brexit and they don’t support his ANTI-DEMOCRATIC suspension of Parliament.
The list of donors and the figures involved are completely eye watering. There are restrictions on how much candidates can spend on election campaigns, which means that Labour and the Lib Dems are not completely outgunned.
But it is clear that Raab is particularly well-funded by wealthy Brexit-supporting donors.
Raab as an MP will get the standard annual pay of £79,468
On top of that there is the fee for his role as Foreign Sec. That takes his total pay to around £141,505. So he is pretty wealthy, even by Surrey standards! But Raab is always after new ways to make a quick buck..
Cashing In
The main source for information is Register of Member’s Interests. TheyWorkForYou is also a good source of info about his financial interests and how Raab votes in Parliament
We find he earns plenty of money for writing for The Daily Telegraph – that’s at £300 per column. But The Sun is the bigger payer at £600 per column.
It’s always interesting to speculate on why companies / individuals decide to bankroll politicians? Nothing is free. Who gains? It certainly isn’t voters to Esher & Walton.
This Vox article has plenty of detail about who has donated to Raab and why..
- Melior Advisers Ltd – The Times revealed he was given “coaching” on how to sound “authentic”. Well, that didn’t work..
- Arbuthnot Banking Group – private bank / wealth management
- Toby Ward
- IPGL Ltd – a hedge fund – headed by former Tory treasurer and donor Michael Spencer. Among its many donations, IPGL paid for “a helicopter for two people for a flight from Gloucestershire to Duns Castle, Berwickshire for a campaigning event; value £9,830.28
- Dominic Burke, chief executive of insurance firm Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT).
- Lord Philip Harris – famous for his carpets, Harris ran Carpetright and now Tapi Carpets. A big Thatcher supporter and Tory donor. Very Pro-Brexit. Tory peers says Brexit is good..
- Esher and Walton Connect (business club) – they don’t appear to have a website and we are not sure what they do. They do pay for the printing and distribution of Raab’s appallingly produced “Westminster Watch”, that is distributed to homes in Esher & Walton.
- Martin Harris – / Tapi Carpets – more rug money
- Paul Luke
- Cameron Marshall
- Cerus Engineering
- Dunmore – property development / investment
Expenses:
You can find out what Raab expense claims here
Useful links:
