It was disclosed on Tuesday that the Prime Minister paid almost £140,000 for the land, which was owned by Lord Chadlington, the brother of John Gummer, the former Conservative cabinet minister who is now a peer.
Lord Chadlington has long-standing links to Mr Cameron and donated £10,000 to him personally to fund his 2005 run for the Conservative leadership. He has donated more than £60,000 to the party since then. His company has donated a further £30,000 in the past three years.
Downing Street officials said the land had been independently valued at the price paid by Mr Cameron and that there was no conflict of interest. The deal was cleared at the highest level by Whitehall officials, they said.
However, the disclosure of the land purchase is likely to raise questions over Mr Cameron’s links to Lord Chadlington, the chief executive of Huntsworth, a major public relations firm.
The peer is regarded as one of Mr Cameron’s oldest political allies and is the chairman of the Prime Minister’s local constituency association.
Comments
Post a Comment