IN

David Sainsbury is a long-term political donor,

having poured million s into the Labour Party down

the years, for which he served in government as

science minister from 1998 to 2006. His donations

have recently transcended party politics and

focused on preserving the Union with Scotland,

and latterly Britain’s place within the E U. He made

donations in the run-up to the EU referendum of

more than £4.2m , making him comfortably the

biggest donor for “remain”. His political largesse is

as nothing put alongside his family’s philanthropy,

which last year ran to more than £196m.

Rich List 2017

WHO BOUGHT THE EU REFERENDUM?

1

Lord Sainsbury

£4,228,234 (63)

2=

Mike Gooley

£1,000,000 (90)

2=

David Harding

£1,000,000 (45)

4

Mark Coombs

£750,000 (48)

5

Lloyd Dorfman

£600,000 (65)

6

Nathan Kirsh

£500,000 (25)

7

Lisbet Rausing

£475,000 (23)

8

Ian Taylor

£359,000 (117)

9

Denise Coates

£262,500 (24)

10

Andrew Law

£200,000 (78)

TOP 10

DON ORS

£10.4m

donated by 30

people in the

Rich List

T

he red Italian sports car,

the yacht in Antibes and the

holiday home on the west

coast of Barbados are the

outward trappings of

success typical of those

worn comfortably by so many within the

2017 Rich List. But the big-ticket item to

beat them all comes in the more subtle

and less garish form of a political donation.

Dinners at Downing Street and the

opportunity to rub shoulders with members

of the cabinet and shadow cabinet are among

the privileges of membership for this elite

group. But last year off ered donors the

biggest prize yet awarded in exchange for

a large cheque: the European referendum on

June 23 held out the chance to change the

course of history. And plenty of Rich Listers

proved willing to play for such high stakes.

217= £ 560 m £ 10 m ▲

LORD SAINSBURY

Supermarkets

Fewer than fi ve dozen Rich

Listers largely bankrolled the

vote on EU membership last

year. There were winners and

losers both on polling day and

in the weeks that followed —

and for some, victory came at

a price. Alastair McCall reports

37.5%

OF DONATIONS

94 • thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist