One of the UK Conservative party’s most prominent financial backers has donated £200,000 to Nigel Farage’s Brexit party in a sign of the growing disenchantment among Tory donors over Theresa May’s failure to leave the EU on schedule.

Jeremy Hosking, a prominent City of London financier and investor in the Flybe airline, has switched to Mr Farage’s party after expressing an interest in funding a new pro-Brexit group to see through Britain’s exit from the EU.

The scale of support from Mr Hosking, the first big Brexit party donor to be named, highlights the challenge the upstart party poses to the Tories ahead of EU elections this month, in which polls put Mr Farage’s group first, with the Conservatives trailing far behind.

“The European elections have become, by default, a second referendum with only the Brexit party and the [pro-Remain] Liberal Democrats having a coherent position,” Mr Hosking told the FT. “Therefore anybody who backs Brexit must back the Brexit party.”

He added: “If there were to be a general election tomorrow, would I support them? You bet I would.”

A Brexit party spokesman acknowledged that Mr Hosking had made a significant donation, while a spokesman for the financier confirmed its £200,000 size.

At the last general election Mr Hosking offered financial backing to 140 pro-Brexit Tory MPs. He had previously given £1.7m to the largely Conservative-backed Vote Leave campaign during the 2016 EU referendum and £100,000 to the Tories in the 2015 election.

On March 29 2019, the day Britain was due to leave the EU, Mr Hosking ran the “Brexit Express” steam train from Swansea to Sunderland, marking “the UK’s exit (or non-exit) from the European Union”. Guests included former Brexit secretary David Davis and former Brexit minister Steve Baker.

A fellow Tory donor said he also felt “utterly let down” by Mrs May, adding: “Having shot itself in the foot by failing to Brexit on 29th March, the Conservative party is now moving the revolver to its mouth. The PM needs to go.”

Members of one of the Tories’ largest groups of donors, the Midlands Industrial Council, are also flirting with switching sides to Mr Farage’s new party.

The MIC was founded in 1946, during Clement Attlee’s postwar Labour government. It hosts a series of luxury cruises in which donors socialise with prominent rightwing politicians.

Jeremy Hosking ran the 'Brexit Express' steam train from Swansea to Sunderland on March 29, the day Britain was due to leave the EU © Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

David Wall, secretary of the MIC, said that “a number” of the donors in the group were taking an interest in the Brexit party because “they don’t like what is going on in parliament”.

Mr Wall added: “Farage is well liked among us because he answers questions directly, he’s been utterly consistent. But he said no one on the MIC had handed over money so far as “it depends on where the Tory party goes next”.

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Despite the interest from wealthy individuals, the Brexit party emphasises its success in raising funds from smaller individual donations. Unlike the UK Independence party, which Mr Farage led on and off for a decade, the Brexit party does not have formal members. Instead, it has signed up 88,000 “registered supporters” who have paid £25 each, resulting in £2.2m in funding. Mr Farage has claimed that 90 per cent of the party’s funds have come from small donations.

The lack of a membership structure has also helped Mr Farage control the party. During his tenure leading Ukip, he frequently battled with its ruling national executive committee and party members. Those who have signed up to the Brexit party receive information about events and campaigns, but do not have the right to influence policy.

The Brexit party is chaired by Richard Tice, a property developer and prominent anti-EU campaigner, who worked closely with Mr Farage on the Leave.EU campaign ahead of the 2016 referendum.

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