Rishi Sunak will meet the Conservative Party’s top donors on Monday night as he seeks to mobilize financial support for the surprisingly timed general election campaign he unleashed last week.
Sky News understands the Prime Minister will dine with a small group of long-standing and more recent donors, as the Tories target millions of pounds in new contributions to fund their bid to hold on to power.
This weekend, Lord Spencer, the city’s billionaire, said he was donating £250,000 to the Conservative campaign, although a leaked party memo reported by The Times on Monday suggested that so far he was struggling to raise money.
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The dinner will take place as the Labor Party prepares to reveal a list of senior business figures supporting the party ahead of the 4th of July election.
A draft letter circulated to private sector bosses late last week, and reported by Sky News, accused the Conservatives of presiding over an economy “plagued by instability, stagnation and a lack of long-term focus”.
Labor refused to comment on the identities of those who signed the letter before its publication, although there was speculation that Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder of Ineos and co-owner of Manchester United Football Club, had been asked to do so.
A Labor official denied that Sir Jim, a Monaco resident who this month said he believed Sir Keir Starmer would do “a very good job running the country”, was among the list of signatories.
The draft letter, designed to support Sir Keir’s attempt to reposition the Labor Party as the natural party of business, stated that the UK “has the potential to be one of the strongest economies in the world”, but added: “The lack of political stability and the absence of a consistent economic strategy prevented it.”
“The Labor Party has shown that it has changed and wants to work with businesses to achieve the UK’s full economic potential,” he added.
“We should now give him the opportunity to change the country.”
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Several FTSE-100 bosses, some of whom have traditionally signed pro-Conservative letters in the run-up to elections, will have been approached to sign them.
One said it was “too political” for him to sign, but Labor allies insisted on Monday that the party had assembled an “impressive” list of signatories.
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Sky News revealed last week that the Conservatives have contacted business leaders since Sunak called the election, asking them to take part in media opportunities, provide quotes in support of manifesto promises and organize events and visits for ministers.
It was unclear on Friday whether the Conservatives would seek commercial signatures for a public letter similar to the one being prepared by Labor.
A Conservative Party spokesman declined to comment on Monday’s dinner with the prime minister or identify the people he would meet.
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