The Conservatives sold off the chance to go shoe shopping with Theresa May, the home secretary, and a meal at the Carlton Club with Sajid Javid, the culture secretary, at their lucrative fundraising event at a five-star hotel in Mayfair on Monday night.



Almost the entire Tory cabinet, including May and foreign secretary Philip Hammond, turned up to the event, where hundreds of donors were tapped up to give generously to the party’s general election campaign.

Party supporters, including hedge fund boss Stanley Fink, Lycamobile founder Subaskaran Allirajah, jewellery tycoon Ranbir Singh Suri, lap dancing club owner Peter Stringfellow and Pimlico Plumbers founder Charlie Mullins were among the guests at the Black and White election fundraiser at Grosvenor House hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair, central London.

Peter Stringfellow arrives at the event in Mayfair. Photograph: Danny E. Martindale/Getty Images

Guests paid £1,500 a head to feast on a starter of smoked salmon with horseradish; a main course of confit of lamb neck with celeriac and a haggis sauce; and to finish, panacotta with rhubarb and mint oil. It was washed down with champagne, a red Bordeaux and sauvignon blanc.

The chance to shop with May, who is known for her love of shoes, included tea, an outing to Bond Street and a £500 shoe voucher. The meal with Javid was for four people to attend the exclusive Carlton Club along with his wife Laura. Other prizes included dinner at home with Michael Gove, the chief whip, and a session of jogging with Nicky Morgan, the education secretary.

Tory cabinet ministers in attendance included the defence secretary Michael Fallon, education secretary Nicky Morgan, and chief whip Michael Gove.

But two of the main future leadership hopefuls were absent with Boris Johnson, the London mayor, in the United States and George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, at the G20 summit.

Last year’s Black and White ball attracted 570 guests worth £22bn, as well as David Cameron and at least 18 other ministers.

Lord Fink has told the Guardian that he wants Britain to rival offshore tax havens with an equally generous tax regime. The Conservatives have been criticised for accepting money from Lycamobile, a company that in 2014 had paid no corporation tax for seven years despite generating millions in revenue.

One Tory donor told the Guardian that if he bought a premium table at the event for £15,000 this year, he would expect the company of a cabinet minister. If he paid £5,000 for a standard table, he would expect a junior minister.



The ball has been organised by a 63-strong committee, including City

donors, oil tycoons and recent converts to the Conservative cause. It

includes Karren Brady, the recently ennobled Tory peer from BBC1’s The

Apprentice, Philip Mould, an expert from Antiques Roadshow, the owners

of several hedge funds and three makeup artists.

Asked if he had anything to say about donors who do not pay their fair share of tax, David Gauke, a treasury minister, said: “I’ve got nothing to say tonight... I don’t get involved in individual cases.”

Francis Maude, a Cabinet Office minister, said: “Everyone should fulfill their obligations.”



The chair of the fundraising event’s committee is Zoe Law, a celebrity makeup artist who has toured with the singer Dido. She is married to Andrew Law, the chief executive of a New York-based trading and investment firm, who has donated more than £1m to the Tories. She has been joined on the committee by two other makeup artists, Lee Pycroft and Sarah Reygate, whose clients include Anne Hathaway, Naomi Watts and Elle Macpherson.

Labour said the list of organisers underlined the exclusive nature of Cameron’s fundraising network. The committee includes 21 registered donors to the party, who have contributed more than £4.6m.

A quarter of the organising committee are linked to the world of finance, and at least seven committee members are donors who have previously attended private dinners with Cameron.

Invitations were sent out in December, according to a party official. Perhaps wary of being accused of appearing out of touch, the organisers asked men to wear suits, as opposed to black tie, while women are encouraged to wear cocktail dresses to the event.

The invitation encourages guests to sign up to premium, premier or standard tables for £15,000, £10,000 or £5,000 respectively. According to one donor, a different minister was assigned to each table last year. Those who paid the most were given the higher-profile ministers, he said.

Invitation card. Photograph: Web

Others on the organising committee included donors who have previously attended private dinners with Cameron. They include Henry Angest, the chairman of Arbuthnot bank and a former Tory party treasurer. He has been criticised for controlling a credit company, Everyday Loans, which charges members of the public interest at a representative rate of 74.8% APR. Before the last election he gave the Conservatives a £5m overdraft at 3.5%. He declined to comment.

Ian Taylor, CEO of the billion-dollar oil company Vitol, is also a committee member who has dined with the prime minister.

Another is Michael Wade, a British executive and chairman of the insurance giant Besso group. According to Tatler magazine, he recently celebrated his 60th birthday by conducting a symphony for 200 friends in Smith Square in Westminster.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow cabinet minister, said: “It’s no wonder the Tories stand up for a privileged few when their election campaign relies on such an elite few funders.

“Ministers are busy rubbing shoulders with an exclusive network of big money backers rather than delivering for working people. As ministers and tycoons gather tonight to decide how the Tory campaign is going to be funded, families up and down the country are suffering a cost of living crisis to which the Tories have no answers.”