Conservatives funding crisis as party loses Brexit donors, Remain donors and £3.8 million in donations The party received £3.7m from 220 donors between January and March – half the £7.5m from 230 donors in the final quarter of 2018

“They have decided they are not going to throw good money after bad” Nigel Evans

The Conservative Party is haemorrhaging cash as Tory donors have turned their backs on the party as a result of Theresa May’s handling of Brexit.

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As exclusively revealed by i earlier this month, funding for the Conservatives has dried up so badly that the party is struggling to pay the rent on its headquarters.

Figures released by the Electoral Commission on Thursday showed the party received £3.7m from 220 donors between January and March – half the £7.5m from 230 donors in the final quarter of 2018.

Propping up the party

The situation is so perilous that the party’s own chief executive Sir Mick Davis has been forced to prop up CCHQ from his own pocket, while Tory party chair Brandon Lewis has had to beg his local associations for emergency loans.

Commission figures show Sir Mick has now become the party’s biggest donor, forking out from his own wallet to the tune of £315,980. The tycoon was forced to bankroll the Tories’ European election campaign on his own due to the lack of willing donors.

Nigel Evans, an executive member of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs, told i the situation was so poor “donations have dried up completely because they were not prepared to give to Theresa May”.

“It is something that people like me have been worried and frustrated about for a year and half. May’s various positions on Brexit have not gone down well with the members and those donors who matter,” Mr Evans said.

“They have decided they are not going to throw good money after bad. It’s meant Sir Mick has been keeping things afloat.”

It emerged last month that Sir Mick was asked to speak to Cabinet to spell out how dire the funding situation was, particularly among pro-Remain donors.

A ‘challenging year’

Earlier this month, City financier Jeremy Hosking, a major investor in the Flybe airline, switched his support for the Conservatives giving £200,000 to the Brexit Party after becoming disillusioned with the Tories’ failure to deliver Brexit. Mr Hosking donated £350,000 to the Conservative candidates during the 2017 general election campaign. He also handed over £1.7m to the largely Conservative-backed Vote Leave campaign during the 2016 EU referendum.

His decision to switch allegiance came after other donors who are opposed to Brexit were bypassing Tory HQ to give directly to MPs with views that chimed with their own.

A Conservative spokesperson said: “This has been a challenging fundraising year for major political parties. It is not unusual for donations to be lower at this stage in the political cycle and CCHQ’s fundraising continues as usual.”