Badenoch does not deny key Tory donor has pulled funding

Richard Harpin, the founder of repairs business HomeServe and review website Checkatrade, has been a long-time donor to the Conservatives.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch meeting staff during her visit to Chemring Countermeasurers Ltd in Salisbury while on the local election campaign trail (Ben Birchall/PA)

Kemi Badenoch did not deny that a key donor to the Conservatives has pulled his funding and said her party is fundraising and “using that money wisely”.

Richard Harpin, the founder of repairs business HomeServe and review website Checkatrade, has paused donations to the party, The Guardian reported.

The newspaper said the loss of his backing could lead to the closure of the party’s northern headquarters in Leeds.

Mr Harpin has been a long-time donor to the Conservatives and provided the party with more than £270,000 in cash and non-cash donations in the last quarter of 2024.

Mrs Badenoch said she would not discuss “any specific individuals” when asked about the report during a visit to a business near Salisbury ahead of the local elections on May 1.

She said there were “many factual inaccuracies” in the story but did not outline what they were.

“So right now, what I’m doing is making sure that we keep our costs down and that we build an organisation that is actually serving the British public,” she said.

“People will donate to us when they see that we are delivering for the country and that we are following our principles and our values.

“But I’m not going to make specific comments about individuals. I don’t think that is right.”

Pressed again about whether Mr Harpin had stopped his donations, she said: “As I said, I’m not discussing any specific individuals.

“The Conservative Party is fundraising and we’re making sure that we’re using that money wisely in the service of the British public.”

The Conservatives raised nearly £2 million in donations in the last three months of last year, while Labour raised just over £1 million and Reform UK accepted around £280,000.

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch with Salisbury and South Wiltshire MP John Glen, managing director Andy Hogben and leader of Salisbury Council Richard Clewer, during her visit to Chemring Countermeasurers Ltd in Salisbury while on the local election campaign trail — Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch with Salisbury and South Wiltshire MP John Glen, managing director Andy Hogben and Salisbury Council leader Richard Clewer during her visit to Chemring Countermeasurers Ltd in Salisbury (Ben Birchall/PA)

The Tories suffered a crushing general election defeat last summer.

Mrs Badenoch acknowledged on Tuesday that the May local elections are going to be “so challenging”.

She added: “We have to also look at the context of what happened four years ago, the last time we fought these seats, when we were polling at a high, winning seats that had never been Conservative before, like Hartlepool.

“We had two-thirds of the votes during the vaccine bounce.

“So we know that this is a challenging set of elections.”