Business used to fund Tom Tugendhat leadership bid set up last November

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A company funnelling cash to Conservative leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat was set up last November, in a sign that ministers and aides were already preparing for a contest to replace Rishi Sunak months before the general election was called.

The company, Blue WV, was set up as a “professional membership organisation” by former special advisers Patrick Spencer and Guy Miscampbell on November 27 of last year.

So far Blue WV has donated more than £45,000 to Tugendhat — who is widely seen as the most moderate candidate still in the running for the Tory leadership — first through £3,500 to his campaign for re-election as an MP and then £41,000 on August 6. 

The company has received £55,000 in donations including £40,000 from hedge fund bosses Reade Griffith and Ian Mukherjee.

Under rules set out earlier this month, the final four leadership contenders need to pay the Conservative party £50,000. The final two candidates will have to pay £150,000.

In November of last year, then prime minister Sunak was under severe pressure from the right flank of his party, who were particularly exercised about his policies on migration.

“Sunak was in a lot of trouble back then, we all knew that,” said Ben Ansell, a professor of comparative democratic institutions at Oxford university.

“The election was coming and MPs realised it was likely they’d be coming for another leader. People were clearly manoeuvring before Sunak was gone.”

Though the former security minister publicly defended Sunak on various policy decisions early this year, he raised eyebrows in March when he diverged from the prime minister’s position on defence spending, saying it should rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP immediately. 

More recently, as part of his leadership bid he has pledged to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP if he becomes prime minister.

Tugendhat is trailing the three other MPs in the race, with rightwing candidates Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch in pole positions after the first two rounds of voting by Tory MPs, followed by former home secretary James Cleverly.

He has been accused of swinging right during the contest to curry favour with Tory MPs and members, including by calling for a target for net migration of 100,000 and by saying he would be prepared to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

MPs will whittle the remaining four candidates down to two after the Tory party conference, at votes taking place on October 9 and 10. The eventual leader will be selected by Tory party members with results announced on November 2.

Tugendhat and Spencer did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Miscampbell declined to comment.

A person close to Tugendhat’s campaign said Blue WV was set up to serve as a vehicle to promote centre-right thinking and that it was regulated by the Electoral Commission — a similar role to that played by think-tank Labour Together for the Labour party.

However, unlike Labour Together, Blue WV does not have a website or produce any public research or reports. 

Blue WV was set up on the same day it emerged that Sunak had done a deal with Suella Braverman to help him secure the Tory leadership the previous year.