New Labour: Donors

This section features details of the many 'high-value' donors and sponsors of the Labour Party since 1996. All those listed here have given more than £5,000 (the exact figures are given when we could find them). The Labour Party's accounts for 1999 show that 60% of its income comes from donors (20% from donors over £5,000) and 10% comes from commercial activities (events and sponsorship). The Trade Unions, who once generated 90% of the Party's income, now provide only 30% (and only 3 high-value donations in 1998-9).

The proportion of New Labour's funds coming from very rich individuals has dramatically increased in the last 4 years and continues to do so, as Tony Blair moves to distance himself from any responsibility to the Unions and the Party's traditional core of working class supporters. What was supposed to be the 'Party of the working class' is funded by the rich and packed out with businessmen.

The rewards are big for the big spenders - for example, of the 97 official high-value donors in 1998-9 more than 30 have received some kind of Government job. A large number of rich donors have received peerages, knighthoods or Task Force jobs, establishing a set of unelected bosses and millionaires in the heart of the Labour Government - from Lord Sainsbury's peerage and Science Minister job (he has given more than £3 million since 1996) to Robert Devereux's job as Chair of the Creative Industries Task Force.

The list also includes companies like Raytheon Systems, an arms manufacturer bidding for Government contracts and Enron, the failed energy multinational which is the subject of a huge financial scandal. Lobbying companies with clients that include Rupert Murdoch's News International, Tesco and Scottish Power also feature heavily.

In September 1999 an opinion poll (ICM) found that 52% of people thought that Tony Blair did not care enough about Labour's traditional working class supporters. Almost the same amount thought Blair paid too much attention to rich people who give Labour large donations.

In another poll the month before, only 26% of workers said they believed that management and employees were 'on the same side' (Joseph Rowntree Foundation study). In a country where 55% of the population consider themselves to be working class (ICM poll), Blair's 1999 speech to the CBI that he is 'proud to be pro-business' places him very squarely in opposition to those same workers.

According to one of his former aides, Tony Blair is almost boyishly impressed - even wide-eyed - in the company of rich businessmen. Perhaps that is why he boasts that, even after the Fairness at Work legislation, British law was 'the most restrictive on Trade Unions in the Western world'.

When Peter Mandelson was Trade and Industry Secretary, he told the CBI that his brief from Blair was 'to act as a vocal and tenacious advocate of the needs of wealth creation and business'. His replacement, Stephen Byers told the House of Commons in March 1999 that he was 'putting the interests of business first'.

Each person or company on the list has a picture and a brief description of who they are and what they do. You can then move on to find more in-depth information by clicking on their picture, which will take you to pages providing details about their company, business or personal history. You can also navigate between pages by clicking on the appropriate page number.

Where individuals are part of the networks of power and influence woven around Tony Blair's New Labour Party, you can follow links which will take you through the trail of interconnections that runs through the site. If at any time you want to move to another section of the site, you can use the top navigation bar.

The Donors

• Enron

Donors and Sponsors for 2001

With the introduction of the Electoral Commission in February 2001, there is now much more access to the details of large donations to the Labour Party. Conversely, some of the really big donors appear to have rushed to get their money in before they needed to be listed, so the figures are unusually small for a pre-election period. The details of some of these 'missing' donors were released in September 2001.

• Lord Sainsbury The biggest donor of the year was Lord David Sainsbury, who gave £2 million to the Labour Party in January 2001, and again in December 2001, making a total of £9 million in 5 years.

Donors in March 2001

Jonathan Altaras (celebrity agent) Gave £1,500 William Bottreill (recruitment company S3) Gave £2,000 Lord Chris Haskins Gave £10,000 Graham Jones Gave £5,050 Alexandra Marks (Partner at Linklaters law firm) Gave £1,300 Joan Morgan Gave £4,000 Lord Joel Joffe Gave £10,000 Christopher Ondaatje Gave £1,200 Lord Swarj Paul Gave £10,000 Alec Reed Gave £10,000 John Reynolds Gave £4,000 Vanni Treves Gave £1,600 David Yallop Gave £2,000 Engineering and Maritime Training Authority Gave £5,875 Law Business Research Ltd Gave £1,500 Richalis Ltd (software ccompany) Gave £8,000 Robert Wann Gave £5,000 Ruobal Properties Ltd (landlords) Gave £4,000 UPS (UK) Ltd Gave £17,625 PriceWaterhouseCoopers (as workers' salaries) Gave £22,958

Sponsors in 2001

Scottish Power Gave £1,500 (February) Bloomberg Gave £11,548 (May)

Services in kind

Peoples Ltd (car dealers) Gave £2,000 (June) QSP Ltd (web hosting) Gave £8,000 (March)

Donors in May 2001

Alan Sugar Gave £200,000 Sir Sigmund Sternberg Gave £100,000 Geraldine Jeffrey Gave £12,000 Charles Peel Gave 6-figure sum Gerry Robinson Gave £20,000 Ruth Harding Gave £6,000 Tim Waterstone Gave £12,000 Lakshmi Mittal Gave £125,000 Christopher Ondaatje Gave £100,000 Michael Frayn, writer Gave £10,000

Vanni Treves Vanni Treves Chairman of Equitable Life, Chairman of Channel 4 Gave £1,600

David Yallop David Yallop Millionaire author and journalist Gave £2,000

Lord Haskins Lord Chris Haskins Chairman, Northern Foods and Express Dairies Gave £10,000

John Reynolds John Reynolds Co-Head of European Utilities at Credit Suisse First Boston bank. Gave £4,000

Bill Bottriell Bill Bottriell Director of Solutions in Staffing & Software Gave £2,000

Richard Williams Richard Williams Managing Director, Richalis Ltd Gave £8,000

Christopher Ondaatje Christopher Ondaatje Former banker who gave £2 million in 2000 Gave £101,200

Sponsors in 2001 Scottish Power Gave £1,500 (February) Bloomberg Gave £11,548 (May)

Services in kind Peoples Ltd (car dealers) Gave £2,000 (June) QSP Ltd (web hosting) Gave £8,000 (March) Alec Reed Alec Reed Chairman of Reed Executive Gave £10,000

Lakshmi Mittal Lakshmi Mittal Billionaire CEO of Ispat International Gave £125,000

Alan Sugar Alan Sugar Chairman of Amstrad and Executive Chairman of Viglen Ltd Gave £200,000

Sir Sigmund Sternberg Sir Sigmund Sternberg Chairman of Isys plc Gave £100,000

Charles Peel Charles Peel Chairman of City stockbrokers, Peel Hunt