Dubai-Based GB News Owner Gives New Conservatives Their Biggest Ever Donation
Danny Kruger MP, a founding member of the New Conservatives group. (Press Association via AP Images)
The New Conservatives group received a £50,000 donation from the Legatum Institute Foundation in December, the financial muscle behind the right-leaning broadcaster GB News.
The revelation comes from the Electoral Commission records, published in an investigation by environmental-focused news site Desmog, and highlights an intricate network of influence within Conservative circles that has been met with calls for increased transparency in party political donations.
The Dubai-based Legatum Group is a major force in backing GB News, which has faced multiple media watchdog investigations for impartiality. Legatum partner Alan McCormick is the chair of the network as the investment firm has funnelled tens of millions of pounds into it.
A previous investigation by DeSmog found that the network regularly platformed New Conservative MPs and that a third of GB News hosts pushed climate denial narratives in 2022, aggressively attacking net zero policies.
The New Conservatives, a faction about 25 MPs strong, have campaigned against ‘woke’ culture and immigration and shown clear opposition to climate action, welcoming new oil and gas licenses while slamming London’s ultra-low emissions zone. The group’s convoluted interests and ties include New Conservative president John Hayes, who also moonlights as an adviser to oil firm BB Energy.
Jolyon Maugham of the Good Law Project told DeSmog: “A Dubai investment fund owning a British broadcaster, funding a wing of the government and with a track record of backing reactionary causes, isn’t exactly what our politics needs at the moment. But, I’m afraid, that’s what the right wing big money ecosystem looks like.”
