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Lord Ashcroft is leading donor for Tory London mayoral candidate

Former party treasurer provides almost 40% of funding for Shaun Bailey’s faltering campaign
The Conservatives’ London mayoral candidate has received nearly 40% of his campaign donations from the former party treasurer Lord Ashcroft, who has been at the centre of a decade of offshore tax controversies.
Shaun Bailey, the challenger to Labour’s Sadiq Khan, has raised £255,000 in cash since the beginning of 2020, according to Electoral Commission records, but has been in effect heavily reliant on a £100,000 Ashcroft donation to keep his faltering campaign alive.
Labour seized on the disclosure to accuse Bailey of being out of touch – while the Conservatives accused their opponents of spending too much time on PR, in one of the first skirmishes of the London mayoral election due in early May.
Ashcroft was a heavy donor to the Conservatives in the previous decade but confirmed in 2010 he had been not domiciled in the UK for tax purposes throughout that period – although it was widely believed he was. So-called non-doms only pay UK tax on their UK income.
The businessman and financier subsequently said he would change his tax status to comply with a change in the law requiring members of the House of Lords to be domiciled in the UK.
Ashcroft subsequently resigned his seat at Westminster in 2015 to concentrate on other interests and had appeared to be drifting apart from the Conservatives, although he retained his peerage and title.
A company Ashcroft is linked to, Medacs Healthcare, an existing contractor to the NHS, was also recently awarded a £350m contract to provide Covid-19 lab testing to the NHS. Ashcroft is non-executive chairman of its owner Impellam Group.
Last month, when news of the contract emerged, Ashcroft’s spokesman said he was not involved in the negotiation of the contract with the Department of Health and Social Care and did not know about it until after it had been awarded.
Campaign insiders say Bailey has struggled to recruit other big-name donors despite promises of help from the prime minister. Boris Johnson, partly because he is so far behind Khan in the polls.
Late last month, Bailey had to release his three most senior media advisers because of lack of funds. Campaign sources said at the time that the Conservatives had to “focus resources on ground campaigning and digital”.
The Conservative is polling at 28% to Khan’s 49%, according to a survey conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies last month, which would put the Labour incumbent on course for a record-breaking win in 20 years of mayoral contests.
Labour also highlighted other names on Bailey’s donor list, including the construction company Keltbray, owned by the Tory donor Brendan Kerr, which gave £25,000 in July. Keltbray owned a joint venture waste company from 2008 to 2011 with the crime boss David Hunt called Keltbray Hunt.
A spokeswoman for Kerr has previously said the construction magnate did not have any association with Hunt. “The only dealings between them relate to a subsidiary company of the Keltbray Group, of which Mr Kerr is the majority stakeholder, entering a joint venture in the company Keltbray Hunt.”
The party also picked out some Bailey donors dating back to 2018. They included Michael Tory, a former head of investment banking at Lehman Brothers at the time of its collapse, who donated £2,500 that year.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “If the Tory candidate cares at all about standing up for Londoners then he will start by respecting London’s values when it comes to accepting political donations.”
But a spokesman for Bailey said Labour should focus on voters’ issues: “If Labour really cared about Londoners’ values, they would tell their mayoral candidate to stop funding his PR budget and start cutting crime.”
source: Dan Sabbagh
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BENEFIT AGM approves 10%...
- March 27, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).
Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.
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