A multi-millionaire Tory tycoon is refusing to hand over £500,000 of donations from himself to the party - unless Boris Johnson is given a chance to remain Prime Minister.
Peter Cruddas - who Mr Johnson put in the Lords against official advice - said there has been a “coup” against the PM and said he should be allowed to be on the ballot for a new leader.
He told the Sunday Times: “I planned to donate a total of £500,000 this year but that is on hold and will not be paid unless the membership have a chance to vote on Boris being PM.
“I have no interest in Rishi who I deem to be not fit for high office due to his plotting and the orchestrated way he and others resigned to remove the PM."
Five candidates remain to be Tory leader under rules agreed by the Conservative Party - which decided Mr Johnson would be barred from standing again.
Last year Boris Johnson overruled advice from the Appointments Commission to put Peter Cruddas in the Lords after he failed its vetting process.
The long-time political donor then gave the Tories his largest ever cash contribution of £500,000, days after being put in post.
Lord Cruddas, who founded CMC Markets, is a former Tory Treasurer who has given millions to the Conservatives, and also donated large sums to the Vote Leave campaign.
He and his wife are worth £1.3bn, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
The House of Lords Appointments Commission said it was unable to support his nomination “after carrying out its vetting”.
But Boris Johnson overturned the advice and gave Lord Cruddas a seat in the Lords anyway - praising his “outstanding contributions in the charitable sector and in business”, and his “long track record of committed political service”.
Chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission Paul Bew said it was the “first occasion” the body’s advice had not been followed.
It’s understood members pointed to court action which followed Lord Cruddas being filmed talking about donations in a Sunday Times newspaper sting in 2012 - when he was Tory Treasurer.
The Electoral Commission found in 2012 there was 'no evidence' any rules had been broken, and Lord Cruddas won £180,000 in damages from the Sunday Times in 2013 after he won a High Court claim for libel and malicious falsehood.
Those damages were however reduced to £50,000 when one part of the ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2015.
Three Appeal Court judges said the alleged meaning that "in return for cash donations to the Conservative Party, the Claimant [Lord Cruddas] corruptly offered for sale the opportunity to influence government policy and gain unfair advantage through secret meetings with the Prime Minister and other senior ministers" was "substantially true".
While Lord Justice Jackson said Lord Cruddas “was not suggesting any form of criminal offence under the Bribery Act”, he wrote in the 2015 ruling: "On a proper reading of the transcript of a meeting on 15 March 2012, the following is clear.
“Mr Cruddas was effectively saying to the journalists that if they donated large sums to the Conservative Party, they would have an opportunity to influence Government policy and to gain unfair commercial advantage through confidential meetings with the Prime Minister and other senior ministers.
"That was unacceptable, inappropriate and wrong."
