THE Liberal Democrats accepted a £10,000 donation from multimillionaire Brexiteer Jeremy Hosking in March, according to figures from the Electoral Commission.
The party told The Private Eye the donation will go towards their party’s candidate in Ross, Skye and Lochaber – the constituency in which the Isle of Rum is situated. It is currently held by Ian Blackford, who is stepping down at the next election.
Hosking – who is reportedly worth some £375 million – was previously in negotiation to buy Kinloch Castle on Rum.
He aimed “for a charitable trust to restore and conserve Kinloch Castle (below) and its contents, and create and run a hotel business”.
However, the sale was put on hold in November by Scottish Greens minister Lorna Slater after lobbying from locals.
Long-term resident and director of Rum Enterprise Fliss Fraser told The National at the time that he worried islanders would end up “in service to the house” and argued that Hosking would have wielded excessive power over local residents if he was allowed to take control of the castle.
Hosking then said that he no longer wanted to be involved in the project, telling the Daily Mail that it was Slater’s fault.
The controversial figure also bankrolls Laurence Fox’s Reclaim party, giving it nearly £2.5m in funding.
He is also friends with the party’s only sitting MP Andrew Bridgen, who was kicked out by the Tories for comparing Covid vaccines to the Holocaust.
