The list of Tory donors to boycott is growing. If you really want to beat them, starve them of cash
It’s all about money: if Boris Johnson didn’t have any, he couldn’t harm anyone. So why are we supporting the people who support him?
[Update: if you want to see the eye-watering amounts that Boris Johnson has received in donations – and the names of the private companies providing the cash – visit this article.]
[Update October 25, 2020: New additions added today. They are listed in this colour.]
The response to my article calling for people to stop buying products provided by firms that donate to the Conservative Party had a great response.
Originally I intended to update that article with new additions to the list of Tory donor firms, but it occurs to me that this may not attract as many readers as regular (or semi-regular) updates, so I’m taking the latter route.
I am aware that some respondents have expressed scepticism about the idea. It won’t produce results overnight, that’s for sure – but then, we’re stuck with Boris Johnson and his cabal of incompetents until 2024, thanks to the 2019 general election. Do you have anything better to do?
This Site can’t change the situation on its own, either, so don’t expect me to. It is the individual responsibility of everybody in the UK to obtain the best government possible – and to change that government by any legal means if a wrong decision is made; you can’t expect the rest of us to do it for you.
That means changing your behaviour to cut out the Tory businesses, and finding new suppliers of goods and services you need.
It also means pestering your friends and colleagues to do the same. Expect resistance because people are naturally lazy. Use the exam results fiasco to persuade parents, and the Covid-19 disaster on others. As the Tories perpetrate more cock-ups – and they will – add those to the list you can use.
And here’s the list of Tory donor firms to shun:
Addison Lee (via founder John Griffin)
Airbus Group Ltd
Airport Park & Ride Ltd
Alfred Dunhill Ltd
Allinson’s (bread – owned by Associated British Foods)
Alton Towers (owned by Prestbury property firm)
Amey Group Services Ltd
Annabel’s (Berkeley Square) Ltd
Asda Property Holdings
ASDA Stores Ltd
Askey’s (ice cream – owned by Associated British Foods)
AXA Trading Limited
BAA Airports Ltd
Balfour Beatty
Beds and Bars Ltd
Bell Pottinger Communications Ltd
Berkeley Homes (housebuilder)
Bestway (cash and carry)
Betfair Ltd
Bicester Shopping Village
Billington’s (sugar – owned by Associated British Foods)
Birmingham Airport Ltd
Bloomberg (media group)
Boden (online and catalogue retailer)
Cameron Mackintosh (theatre company: Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, Oliver!, Miss Saigon, Cats and Hamilton)
Canary Wharf Group (property)
Carlton Television (via boss Michael Green)
Caxton Associates (via boss Andrew Law)
CityLink (via boss Jon Moulton)
Clinton Cards (donations to individual MPs of which this is an example)
Country House Weddings Ltd
Crusha (milkshakes – owned by Associated British Foods)
CVC Capital Partners (via co-founder Bruce Hardy McLain)
Delamere Dairy
DFS Furniture (historical – Tory donor Lord Graham Kirkham lost control in 2013)
Dorset Cereals (owned by Associated British Foods)
Dunelm (owner Bill Adderly donated £500,000 to the Tory 2019 election campaign)
Dyson (household appliance manufacturer)
E.On (gas and electricity supplier)
Express Newspapers
Flamingo Land (Yorkshire theme park)
Gatwick Airport
GCH Capital (manufacturing and distribution)
Genix Healthcare (NHS and private dental clinics)
Ginsters (pasty and pie manufacturer, owned by Tory donors Samworth Brothers)
Golden Wonder (crisps)
Hooch (drink, owned by Tory donor Global Brands Ltd)
Iceland (supermarket)
Imperial London Hotels Ltd
Jacksons of Piccadilly (tea – owned by Associated British Foods)
JCB (construction, but has also licenced hundreds of other products)
Jordans (cereals – owned by Associated British Foods)
JP Morgan Cazenove (via former chairman David Mayhew)
Kingsmill (bread – owned by Associated British Foods)
Kurt Geiger (shoemakers)
LNT Group (boss Lawrence Tomlinson donated £40,500 to 13 Tory candidates in 2019 election)
The London Cabaret Club
Lycamobile (SIM card company)
McLaren (automotive)
Meggitt (aerospace engineering)
Melton Mowbray pies (owned by Tory donors Samworth Brothers)
Microsoft Ltd (UK branch of the US corporation. This could be tricky as I expect we all have Microsoft products!)
National Express
New Cross Nursing Group Ltd (nurse agency)
Next
Nielsen Massey (vanilla and food flavourings – owned by Associated British Foods)
Numis (investment banker)
Ocado
Ovaltine (owned by Associated British Foods)
OVO Energy (through managing director Stephen Fitzpatrick)
Palantir
Parabis Group (legal & professional services)
Patak’s (owned by Associated British Foods)
Petrofac (via chairman Ayman Asfari)
Pimlico Plumbers
Powerleague (five-a-side football group)
Radnor Hills Mineral Water
Frederic Robinson Ltd (owns Robinson Breweries and 280 pubs in the North West, producer of bottled and cask beers)
Ryvita (owned by Associated British Foods)
Sainsbury’s (supermarket) (due to donations by Tory Lord John Sainsbury, the company’s president, totalling more than £1 million between 2001 and 2017. There is also a Lord David Sainsbury who donated £8 million to the Liberal Democrats – but his holdings in the firm are now managed as a ‘blind’ trust to prevent any conflict of interest with his political career.)
Scottish Power (although this firm seems confused and has also given to Labour)
Selfridges (department store)
Serco
Silver Spoon (suger manufacturer, owned by Associated British Foods)
Soreen Malt Loaf (owned by Tory donors Samworth Brothers)
The Spectator (magazine, via former owner Sir Henry Keswick)
Speedibake (bakery products – owned by Associated British Foods)
The Sun (newspaper (it says))
Sunblest (bread – owned by Associated British Foods)
Tate & Lyle (sugar manufacturer)
Tempcover (car insurer)
Towergate Partnership (insurance/financial)
Truvia (sweeteners – owned by Associated British Foods)
Twinings (tea manufacturer, owned by Associated British Foods)
Tyrells (crisps)
Veetee Rice (food)
VK (alcopop owned by Tory donor Global Brands Ltd)
Warburtons (bread manufacturer)
Wates (construction)
Westfield (shopping centre operator)
Wetherspoons (pub chain)
Wittington Investments (food)
Wren Kitchens
It’s still not an exhaustive list. I’m working through the evidence as fast as I can.
And it may be inaccurate in places. Any firm or person listed above who thinks they shouldn’t be is invited to get in touch (politely, please!) and we can talk about it.
I must emphasize that this is not something that can achieve results overnight. It requires a behavioural shift by a large number of people, into awareness of where their money goes after they use it to buy goods/services.
And I must also remind you of one very important fact:
If you – personally – don’t do anything, nothing will change. It really is your choice.
(NOTE August 17: Richer Sounds has been removed from the list as I have been informed that the company is very far from being a Tory donor; it is now largely employee-owned and supports a large number of progressive causes and campaigns, in line with the activities of its founder, Julian Richer. I am delighted to make this correction and hope to run an article about what appears to be an exemplary UK business in the near future.)
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
I think some of these will require a bit of an individual judgement call, especially the ones where it was the founder more so than the company being the donor, and the founder being no longer part of the company. Addison Lee is a good example of this, John Griffin having stepped down in 2014 even though he has personally donated £4million plus pre April 2019.
These might be of interest for anyone who wants to dig a little deeper.
The Electoral Commission has spreadsheets of all political financial reporting back to 2001 here, which is useful but a bit hard to navigate easily.
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/who-we-are-and-what-we-do/financial-reporting/donations-and-loans/view-donations-and-loans
And then there’s this, same thing in essence but you can search by keywords, people, parties, groups etc, individually, so a lot more user friendly and lots of search filters to choose from, too.
http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/
Just for fun I compared personal donations to Boris and Jeremy, for 2019.
£811,500 vs £0
Cons vs Labour as parties, there was just a few million difference in 2019. Labour’s mostly not coming from companies or individuals though.
When they say “the party of business,” they really aren’t lying!
Samworth brother also make all of Tesco in store bakery products for Tesco stores that don’t have in store bakeries
Iv had a talk to the oap outside those coffee shops
That sprung up I talked to many burger places that
They all pay minimum tax even those big online companies like Amazon untill the peasants not use them then on it goes
Your list is too long and unmemorable already. Get a shorter list and make it count.
A shorter list won’t count, though. The Tories would still have an income stream from the omissions.
What you’re actually saying is, “I can’t be bothered. I know it’s only a little work to ensure I’m not funding Tories but I’d rather carry on paying them to ruin me and harm everyone I care about.”
That’s your choice, of course. Own it.
Can’t stand Wetherspoons and haven’t bought Warburtons or Kingsmill for years (I prefer the local independent baker). Sugar could be difficult with both Silver Spoon and Tate and Lyle on the LIst. Surprised about Ocado, I guess I’ll just have to go to Waitrose stores rather than order on line, not that I’ve done that since lockdown started. Sainsbury’s also surprised me, oh well I don’t go often, I guess I’ll be going even less now.
So we can have what? Labour back in power again? No thanks.
Be honest: the current Conservative government is the worst administration the UK has had – as far as anybody living can remember. I think you’d have to go deep into the history books to find one that has been worse.
As for Labour: one thing at a time.
Theft of the publicly owned NHS, murder of millions due to Austerity and lack of virus control eg care homes, no PPE Why are these criminals not in court and in jail?
HI Mike
As an update to this, I saw this article in the East Anglian Times today. I thought it might interest you, particularly as it clearly outlines the damage the Tate and Lyle deal will do to British Farmers (who sell under Silver Spoon).:
https://www.eadt.co.uk/business/farming/nfu-criticises-dit-zero-tariff-raw-sugar-quota-1-6798837?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=DM29679
I am lead to believe that Sainsburys no longer donate can anyone corroborate?
I believe British Airways should be on that list.