Michael Farmer

Michael Farmer is a City financier and co-treasurer of the UK Conservative Party since March 2012. He is one of Britain's biggest political donors, having given the Tories over £2.3 million before the 2010 UK general election.

Activities

Farmer founded RK Capital Management whose main fund, Red Kite, is one of the biggest industrial metals hedge funds in the world. Dubbed "Mr Copper", Farmer is often responsible for shipping around 15pc to 20pc of China's copper supplies.

Views

Farmer, who took up Bible studies for two years not long after he sold his business to Enron, says his motivation for funding the Tories is based on his belief that the Tories under David Cameron will be a better government for the country than Labour were. Labour, he says, 'governed incredibly badly'.

The tax and benefits structures put in place under Labour have not created a strong society, they've done the opposite. They've just encouraged unhappy lives. The core unit of society – husband, wife, parents, children – have been dismantled. Ed Balls has suggested that the idea of 'family' is Victorian. Give me a break. Families have been around forever, all around the world. This isn't Victorian, this is how society works best. Labour's idea of a family is three people who share a fridge."

"I met Cameron around 2006 and we spoke about importance of the family," says Farmer. "I suppose you can be cynical about politicians but I felt his response was genuine and I have felt the same ever since."

Christian conservatism

Farmer also donated £2,000 to Philippa Stroud's unsuccessful campaign to become Tory MP for Sutton & Cheam. Stroud is now a special adviser to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith and a former head of the influential Christian-orientated think tank the Centre for Social Justice, originally set up by Duncan Smith.