JCB boss funded £8,000 helicopter flight for Nigel Farage

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Lord Anthony Bamford paid for an £8,000 helicopter flight for Nigel Farage, in the same week the billionaire Conservative megadonor urged the Tory party to strike a deal with the Reform UK leader.

The trip on October 25 was from Kent to Rocester in Staffordshire, where Bamford is based, Farage told the Financial Times. The donation was disclosed in the MPs’ register of financial interests.

Bamford is among the largest donors to the Tory party, having since 2010 given more than £8mn in a personal capacity or through the equipment maker JCB which he chairs.

The day after the helicopter trip and a meeting with Farage, the Telegraph published an interview with Bamford in which he said that the Tory party needed “fixing in a very big way” and that Reform’s influence extended far beyond the five seats it had won at the general election in July. 

“Reform is getting organised and its following is growing fast,” he told the newspaper. “The Tories need to be very conscious of what Farage is up to — and I imagine they will have to seek some kind of deal with him at some stage.”

Farage told the FT that Bamford and some of “his people” wanted to discuss “political developments and global politics” and were “particularly interested in my take on America . . . Mercifully, my predictions were correct.”

He added: “Anthony — who I’ve known for a long time — has been very supportive of the ideas I’ve pushed but has always been loyal to the Conservative party.”

JCB said it “welcomes politicians from all political parties” and that Farage visited “in late October and met some senior managers”.

It added: “We were delighted to welcome Mr Farage as a JCB guest and were grateful to have his insights into the post-election, pre-Budget political dynamic in Westminster.”

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University in London, said that the bankrolled trip to his office “does indicate [Bamford] sees some merit in the argument that the right should unite and the Conservatives aren’t the only game in town”.

Although he has not donated to Farage personally before, Bamford has been a champion of the Brexit cause, helping bankroll the Vote Leave campaign and funding a pro-Brexit driving stunt by then-prime minister Boris Johnson in 2019.

Bamford gave most generously to the Tories in the years of Johnson’s premiership, donating more than £3mn over the period, and he has been a vocal proponent of his return as leader of the party.

The Brexit-supporting billionaire paid for Johnson’s wedding party after he lost access to the Chequers estate following his political downfall in 2022, and then donated to Liz Truss’s successful campaign to take over as Conservative leader and prime minister.

He also donated around £300,000 to the Tory party ahead of the general election this year through JCB.

The most recent register of MPs’ interests did not show him making any donations to the contenders in this year’s race to be leader of the Conservative party, including Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch.

Bamford was awarded a peerage by former prime minister David Cameron in 2013.