Among those milling in the garden over drinks and canapés were key donors to the Conservative party, including host Rishi Khosla, a banker. Peter Cruddas, the online trading tycoon who gave the Tories £500,000 days after being elevated by Johnson to the House of Lords in 2020, was there, as was Howard Shore, the founder of Shore Capital who gave the party £250,000 this year.
These were some of the money men who had supported Johnson’s rise to power. Many were also members of the secretive “Advisory Board,” a hitherto unknown group of elite donors who enjoy frequent and direct access to the most powerful people in government.
Although Johnson was warmly received, those present say the donors boxed the prime minister’s ears over the troubles in his cabinet as well as the economic direction of the country under his leadership. “They’re fed up with all this state intervention,” one party insider with knowledge of the discussion says. “The top donors are Thatcherite free marketeers, and they have no qualms about giving Boris a piece of their mind.”
Johnson, as is often his way, told them what they wanted to hear: that he hadn’t forgotten his closest supporters. And before he left for the night he vowed to press ahead with “freedom day” — the controversial lifting of most of England’s Covid-19 restrictions on July 19. https://www.ft.com/content/8c6041ff-a223-43e9-9e45-53c3f7cf47f7?s=04&fbclid=IwAR0q2pJ4PMEZ0pQDS-go6Zv6dTYgLw-reH9s5lq1fZNgSmFR2RUn9RMD_E0
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