GETTY/SCOPE Samantha Cameron’s father has received millions in EU farming subsidies

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Sir Reginald Adrian Berkeley Sheffield, 8th Baronet, receives eye-watering sums of money from Brussels to help fund the upkeep of his sprawling Lincolnshire estate. The aristocrat, who is the father of Samantha Cameron, is just one of a number of wealthy landowners who get huge pots of cash paid out by the EU's controversial Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Today an investigation by this website exposes how the 58 billion Euro (£46BN) scheme, which was set up to help impoverished farmers, is now being exploited by Britain's landed elite to bankroll their huge inherited estates. Amazingly the taxpayer-funded programme is handing over hundreds of millions of pounds of our cash to rich aristocrats, fox hunting associations and local councils.

The revelation Sir Reginald is such a large recipient will prove hugely embarrassing for Mr Cameron, who has been accused of burying a huge "conflict of interest" over his leadership role in the campaign to keep Britain in the EU. It backs up the assertion put forward in a speech by Iain Duncan Smith this week that Brussels project has become a "force for social injustice" that only benefits the rich. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) figures hidden from the public but seen by Express.co.uk reveal the PM's father-in-law has received at least £614,577.26 in CAP payments since 2008. Official figures for the scheme, which has been running in its current format since 1999, do not go back to beyond that, but independent data compiled from Freedom of Information requests by an online watchdog indicate Sir Reginald's companies may have received as much as £2.7million in the last 15 years.

SCOPE Sir Reginald receives the funds to help with upkeep on his Lincolnshire estate

In 2014 alone - the last year for which official figures are available - the Baronet's farming operations received an astonishing £262,442.38 from Brussels. Of that, £209,965.24 was channeled through Normanby Estate Farms, the company responsible for managing his sprawling 3,000 acre ancestral estate outside Scunthorpe. A further £38,846.10 was handed over to Normanby Farms Ltd, and £13,631.04 went to the family's overarching parent company, Normanby Estate Holdings Ltd. Of the total, an overwhelming £232,515.34 was dished out under the 'single area payment scheme' - meaning it was paid to Sir Reginald purely on the basis of how much land he owns. The rest of the cash was disbursed to help fund various environmentally friendly schemes the aristocrat, who is thought to be worth £20m, has agreed to carry out on his land.

GETTY Mrs Cameron is not involved with her father’s company

Mrs Cameron is not listed as a director of the company but her brother, Robert Sheffield, was appointed to that position in July 2011.

In my opinion David Cameron has a massive conflict of interest Farming source

One well-placed source told Express.co.uk: "In my opinion David Cameron has a massive conflict of interest." Sir Reginald - an Old Etonian who also earns almost £350,000 a year by hosting wind turbines on his land - is not the only member of the landed classes who is raking in huge sums of money from Brussels. William Pleydell-Bouverie, the 9th Earl of Radnor, was handed £453,618.76 in 2014 to pay for the upkeep of the ancestral seat Longford Castle, near Salisbury in Wiltshire. The moated estate, which boasts a multi-million pound art collection featuring paintings by a number of classical masters, is administered by a private company called Longford Farms Limited of which the Earl is a director.

DESMOND O'NEILL Mrs Cameron’s brother, Robert Sheffield, is listed as a director of the company

One of his principal tenants is Minette Batters, the Deputy President of the National Farmers Union (NFU), who recently broke the organisation's tradition of being politically impartial by coming out strongly in support of Brussels, sparking resignations. The source said: "I'm sure Minette Batters has been leant on to push the NFU to push the case for staying in the EU." Elsewhere Ralph George Algernon Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland, received £149,547.62 through his Northumberland Estates company which manages the family seat at Alnwick Castle, in Northumberland, where Harry Potter was filmed. The Duke, who owns 130,000 acres of land across the north West, Scotland, Surrey, London and Tyneside, also received £208,587.76 for his holdings south of Edinburgh, whilst £34,203.37 went to companies registered at the Albury Estate, near Guildford, Surrey, which is owned by the Percy family. And Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley, the 9th Duke of Wellington, owns the Stratfield Saye Estates Management Company Limited, which received a more modest £10,560.00.

GETTY The payments have been called a ‘conflict of interest’ for David Cameron

The source, who is well-placed within the farming community, said many members of Britain's elite are now using taxpayer-funded EU cash to bankroll the further expansion of their estates. They said: "A very small fraction of the wealthiest of the population are 'cleaning up' on the bulk of all the money paid by the EU. "These very, very wealthy people are getting staggering amounts of money to help them keep castles and art collections and thousands of acres of land. "Some of these people are extremely influential and it is all inherited - they've done nothing for it." The source said senior figures within the Remain camp were "in a bit of a panic" after discovering that the shocking EU funding scandal could go public. They added: "These subsidies were designed a long, long time ago to help the small farmers of southern Europe with a dozen sheep on a hillside, but now remarkably you have the wealthiest in the land getting all the agricultural subsidies. "This all has to be tackled because there's a great deal of unfairness, that the haves are being given huge amounts of money for doing absolutely nothing. "This is an issue so shrouded in mystery and they aren't going to be very happy at all when all this comes out."

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