The money funneling into the House of Commons has been laid bare this week through figures collated by Sky News and Tortoise Media, using the combined figures starting since the 2019 election.
Gathered together, it shows how Conservative MP Miriam Cates accepted £27,000 in combined funds from Tory party millionaire donors, as well as £2,000 from Robert Charles Standing of R S Furbs Ltd, an investment company with practically no online presence.
And former Mayor of South Yorkshire Dan Jarvis received £100,000 from what has emerged to be the third biggest donor to English MPs – a “secretive” firm called MPM Connect, run by recruitment mogul millionaire Peter Hearn, who gave a combined total of £345,000 to just three Labour MPs, including the shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper.
Below, The Star has taken a closer look at the donations and gifts given to Sheffield MPs, as well as Mr Jarvis.
1. The donations to Sheffield MPs since the 2019 election, plus former South Yorkshire mayor Dan Jarvis
Here is a closer look at the nearly £100,000 in donations and gifts made to Sheffield MPs since the 2019 election, as well as £210,000 to former Mayor of South Yorkshire Dan Jarvis. Photo: Alastair Ulke
2. £210,000: Dan Jarvis - Barnsley Central, Labour, former mayor of South Yorkshire
Although not a Sheffield MP, The Star has included former mayor of South Yorkshire Dan Jarvis on this list. Photo: UK Parliament
3. £34,520 : Miriam Cates - Penistone and Stocksbridge, Conservative
The Sheffield MP to declare the most in donations, gifts and payments was the Conservative's Miriam Cates. The greatest was a total of £20,000 between January 2020 and June 2022 by The Cayzer Trust Company, a London private investment firm representing the portfolio the Cayzer Family. The billionaire family which historically made its money fortune in shipping has donated more than £300,000 to the Conservative Party since 2005 and has investments in dozens of UK companies. The payment logged in January 2020 suggests it was dedicated to Ms Cates' election campaign, as it did for several other sitting MPs. Another donation logged in January 2020 was £5,000 from the Stalbury Trustees, a pro-union pro-brexit Trust who are regular donors to the Conservative Party. News blog Tees Valley Monitor says it estimates 56 sitting MPs have benefited from donations from Stalbury. Their trustees include the Marquess of Salisbury, a former leader of the Conservatives in the House of Lords who is known to have supported a Leave vote. Ms Cates also received £5,000 from Anthony E Endfield, millionaire owner of the Rayware homewares firm who donated £20,000 to Tory MPs in relation to the 2019 election. There was a £2,000 donation in April 2022 by R S Furbs Ltd, owned in whole by Robert Charles Standing. Mr Standing is the current and former director of several investment companies, nearly all registered an office in Berkshire. R S Furbs also donated £8,400 to Conservative MP for Wycombe Steve Baker. The Star has contact Ms Cates and attempted to contact Mr Standing about the nature of the donation. There was also a £2,000 gift from Conservative Friends of Israel and a £1,490 gift from March of the Living, a Holocaust educational and memorial programme. Smaller donations and gifts included £800 from Conservative news site UnHerd, £100 from the Telegraph Media Group, £200 from 'The National Club', and £800 from 'Greens'. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe. Photo: Jonathan Gawthorpe
4. £0 - Paul Blomfield - Sheffield Centre, Labour
Unique among the other MPs in this list, Paul Blomfield has not reported any income, donations or gifts from any source since December 2019. He intends to step down at the next election, and has endorsed Ms Abtisam Mohamed as his replacement. Photo: Alastair Ulke