Rishi Sunak will this week attempt to put his recent political troubles behind him when he courts City figures at a Conservative donors’ dinner designed to bolster party finances.
Sky News has learnt that the chancellor will speak at the event in central London on Tuesday evening, with guests being charged £10,000 for a 10-person table.
Sources said the dinner had been organised by Malik Karim, the investment banker who was appointed as a Tory treasurer last September.
He is said to be keen to broaden the party’s donor base in an industry that has historically provided a reliable source of funding, and wants this week’s inaugural City dinner to become an annual event.
Ironically, major Tory donors who are members of the House of Lords will be unable to attend Tuesday’s dinner because they have been told to be available to vote in the chamber.
Mr Sunak is understood to have been promoted as the event’s guest of honour, with tickets costing £1,000-a-head.
Buyers of individual tickets would not be required to disclose their purchase, although anyone buying an entire table would, because of the £7,500 threshold for declaring political donations to national parties.
The chancellor has endured the toughest month of his political career amid scrutiny of his family’s tax affairs and the fixed penalty notice he received, alongside the prime minister, for attending a Downing Street gathering during one of the pandemic lockdowns.
Mr Sunak has asked the government’s independent ministerial standards adviser to investigate whether he has adequately disclosed his financial interests since joining the front benches.
The Treasury declined to comment.
For all the latest business News Click Here
