What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

These are the 20 super-rich donors that bankrolled the Tories to the tune of £11.5m last year.

Despite Theresa May’s pledge to reduce dependency on large donors, the party still relies on fat-cats.

The 20 are members of the exclusive ‘Leader’s Group’ of donors.

They pay £50,000 a year to attend private dinners with Theresa May and senior Cabinet ministers.

Last year, Chancellor Philip Hammond and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson attended the secretive meals.

The list of top donors is headed by the Bamford family who own JCB and also donated to the Vote Leave campaign.

(Image: Getty)

The Bamford family ranked at 35 in the Sunday Times Rich List 2017, with an estimated net worth of £3,300 million.

Lord Anthony Bamford - a collector of vintage Ferraris - and his brother Mark Bamford were guests of the PM last year.

The Bamford family gave £643,000 to Leave campaign groups in the EU referendum , including £600,000 for Vote Leave and £33,000 for Grassroots Out and £10,000 for Brexit think tank the Bruges Group.

(Image: PA) (Image: PA)

Sir Mick Davis, a former Tory treasurer knighted by David Cameron , is next on the list with £1.3m.

Davis was given a Knighthood by David Cameron in the 2015 Birthday Honours.

John Griffin is third on the list after the Addison Lee founder donated £1m to the party.

Other donors include hedge fund manager Andrew Law who gave the Tories £617,000 last year.

His US-based firm Caxton Associates controls around $8bn of assets and was ranked the fourth least transparent in the world.

Mr Law ranked at 262 in the Sunday Times Rich List 2017, with an estimated net worth of £475 million.

The Tories also received £269,000 from Lord Fink who said “tax avoidance, everyone does it”, £255,000 from Michael Spencer whose firm Icap “was fined £55m for its role in the Libor-rigging scandal”.

And they were given £241,000 from Lupov Chernukhin, the wife of Vladimir Putin’s former deputy finance minister who bid £30,000 to dine with the Defence Secretary.

Jon Trickett MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister, said: “Theresa May has become more dependent than ever on a tiny group of elite donors that pay huge sums of money for privileged access to her and Cabinet ministers.

“The Prime Minister once said her party needed to remove its dependency on large donors and that she would not be driven by the interests of the rich and powerful.

“It proves again that only Labour will stand for the many, while the Tories represent the interests of a privileged few.”

Figures released by the Electoral Commission show the Tories received £35.6m in donations last year.

The 'Leader's Group'

1. The Bamford Family - £2,457,000

2. Mick Davis - £1,369,000

3. John Griffin - £1,041,500

4. David Brownlow - £714,690

5. Andrew Law - £617,730

6. Ian Taylor - £578,750

7. John Bloor - £532,000

8. Lord Ashcroft - £500,000

9. Tony Gallagher - £475,000

10. Rami Ranger - £385,750

11. Henry Angest - £362,500

12. Michael Hintze - £347,943

13. Peter Cruddas - £319,500

14. Charles Wigoder - £308,500

15. Lord Edmiston - £292,000

16. Leopold Noe - £284,000

17. Lord Fink - £269,100

18. Michael Spencer - £255,000

19. David Ord - £243,500

20. Lubov Chernukhin - £241,350