Hotels tycoon who stopped donating to Tories gives party 10,000
The Guardian A hotels tycoon and disillusioned Conservative donor who vowed not to contribute to the party again has bolstered the Tory coffers in a move designed to support the arch-Brexiter Steve Baker.
Sir Rocco Forte, the Brexit-backing hotelier who helped to fund Boris Johnsons election win and hosted a 12,000 leadership victory party for him, had distanced himself from the party and repeatedly expressed frustration over its handling of Brexit.
However, newly released Electoral Commission data shows Forte handed 10,000 to the Conservatives through their Wycombe branch this year, marking his first donation to the party since 2019 when he gave 100,000 on the eve of Johnsons election victory.
It is understood Forte specifically made the donation to support Baker, the MP for Wycombe, who was one of the Tories fiercest campaigners to get the UK out of the EU. However, Baker, now a Northern Ireland minister, last year apologised to Ireland and Brussels for the way he and some of his colleagues had behaved since the Brexit vote.
