London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Feb 19, 2026

Banned City trader an organiser of Tories' Black and White ball

Banned City trader an organiser of Tories' Black and White ball

Jay Rutland part of event committee that fundraised for annual Conservative party

The phone tycoon who arranged Boris Johnson’s £15,000 Caribbean holiday and a businessman who has been banned from City trading are among 11 Conservative supporters who helped organise the party’s fundraising ball, the Guardian can disclose.

A leaked document shows that the party’s annual Black and White fundraising event on Tuesday was organised by a committee that includes the Carphone Warehouse founder, David Ross, who called in a favour to provide the prime minister and his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, with a free holiday in Mustique over the new year.

Jay Rutland, the Essex businessman whose wife is the socialite Tamara Ecclestone, is also on the list. He previously worked in the financial sector in the City of London but in 2012 was banned from trading over “market abuse”.

The Financial Services Authority ruled that Rutland, the son-in-law of Bernie Ecclestone was not a “fit and proper person” and that his behaviour demonstrated a lack of “honesty and integrity”. In 2016 Rutland was cleared by a court of assisting a drugs baron to evade justice.

At the event, held on Tuesday in Battersea Evolution club, south London, cabinet ministers including the prime minister rubbed shoulders with wealthy party supporters. The annual event raises millions for the Conservative party.

One donor paid £60,000 for gold and silver versions of the Brexit Day commemorative coin and a signed copy of the withdrawal agreement, it was reported.

The auction also included a flight in a Lancaster Bomber with the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, a game of tennis with Johnson, and lunch with the justice secretary, Robert Buckland – in a prison restaurant.

Around 700 attendees paid up to £15,000 a table and dined on red mullet, salsa verde and artichoke, according to the Mirror. A cabinet minister was placed on most tables and drinks included champagne and white burgundy.


Other auction lots included a night of whisky tasting with Liz Truss, lunch with Zac Goldsmith and dinner at a Mayfair club with Michael Gove.

A day in a box at Lords for a one-day cricket international between England and Australia with the chancellor Rishi Sunak was also sold off.

It is the ball’s organising committee that is asked to contact the great and the good to come along to the event, and donate or suggest possible prizes, according to one party insider.

A document leaked to the Guardian shows that the other committee members include Anya Hindmarch, a handbag designer and former businesswoman of the year, George Bamford, an entrepreneur and son of the billionaire Conservative peer and vocal Brexit supporter Lord Bamford, and Amit Bhatia, the founding partner of Swordfish Investments and chairman of Queens Park Rangers football club.

Two of the UK’s most prominent theatre impresarios are also listed as committee members. They are John Gore, a theatre producer who gave the party £1m in the run up to last year’s general election, and Sally Greene, the former chief executive at the Old Vic Theatre.

Nicholas Coleridge, former head of Condé Naste and the chair of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Kate Reardon, a former editor of Tatler, are also listed, along with Phoebe Vela, the wife of the property tycoon John Hitchcox, who owns the Olympia exhibition hall in west London.

Jamie Reuben, the Melbury Capital financier and son of the billionaire property developer David Reuben, chaired the committee. He donated £50,000 to Johnson’s leadership campaign last year.
At the Tories’ summer ball last year prizes included a £15,000 eight-person excursion to shoot pheasants on an estate in Scotland, and a £27,000 all-expenses-paid trip to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

At the 2018 Black and White ball a bidder paid about £55,000 for the privilege of spending a working day with Theresa May, who was prime minister at the time.

Figures released by the electoral commission in November showed that Johnson’s party raised more than £5.67m in large donations – defined as amounts of more than £7,500 – compared with £218,500 given to Labour in the run-up to the general election.
As well as the prime minister and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, other politicians at the ball included the Foreign Office minister James Cleverly.

The event was compèred by Go Compare’s opera-singing mascot, Wynne Evans. One source claimed that Richard Desmond, the former owner of the Express newspapers, was also there.

Helena Morrissey, a financier, tweeted a photo of Johnson at the event with the caption: “Fun evening at the Conservatives Winter Party, with rousing speech (as always) by the Prime Minister.”

At the Tories’ summer ball last year prizes included a £15,000 eight-person excursion to shoot pheasants on an estate in Scotland, and a £27,000 all-expenses-paid trip to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

At the 2018 Black and White ball a bidder paid about £55,000 for the privilege of spending a working day with Theresa May, who was prime minister at the time.

Figures released by the electoral commission in November showed that Johnson’s party raised more than £5.67m in large donations – defined as amounts of more than £7,500 – compared with £218,500 given to Labour in the run-up to the general election.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Inflation Slows Sharply in January, Strengthening Case for Bank of England Rate Cut
Hide the truth, fake the facts, pretend the opposite, Britain is as usual
France President Macron says Free Speech is Bull Sh!t
Viktor Orbán getting massive praise for keeping Hungary safe, rich and migrant-free!
UK Inflation Falls to Ten-Month Low, Markets Anticipate Interest Rate Cut
UK House Prices Climb 2.4% in December as Market Shows Signs of Stabilisation
BAE Systems Predicts Sustained Expansion as Defence Orders Reach Record High
Pro-Palestine Activists Cleared of Burglary Charges Over Break-In at UK Israeli Arms Facility
Former Reform UK Councillors Form New Local Group Amid Party Fragmentation
Reform UK Pledges to Retain Britain’s Budget Watchdog as It Seeks Broader Economic Credibility
Miliband Defends UK-California Clean Energy Pact After Sharp Criticism by Trump
University of Kentucky to Host 2026 Summer Camps Fair Connecting Families with Local Programmes
UK Police Forces Assess Claims Jeffrey Epstein Used Stansted Airport Flights in Trafficking Network
UK-Focused Equity ETF FLGB Climbs to Fresh 52-Week Peak on Strong Market Sentiment
Trump Warns UK’s Chagos Islands Agreement Is a “Big Mistake” Amid Strategic Security Debate
Trump Urges UK to Retain Sovereignty Over Diego Garcia Amid Strategic Concerns
Italian Police Arrest Man After Alleged Attempt to Abduct Toddler at Bergamo Supermarket, Child Hospitalised With Fractured Femur
Rupert Lowe wanted to deport rape gangs and the communities who protected them
Reform UK Appoints Former Conservative Minister Robert Jenrick as Finance Chief
UK Unemployment Rises to Highest in Nearly Five Years as Labour Market Weakens
Rupert Lowe Advocates for English-Only Use in the UK
US Successfully Transports Small Nuclear Reactor from California to Utah
South Korea's traditional sand wrestling sport ssireum faces declining interest at home
Japan outlawed Islam
Virginia Giuffre accuses Epstein of trafficking to powerful men for blackmail.
New Mexico lawmakers initiate investigation into Zorro Ranch linked to Jeffrey Epstein
British Tourist Arrested at Hong Kong Airport After Meltdown and Vandalism
The Spanish government has ordered prosecutors to investigate platforms X, Meta and TikTok for allegedly spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse material
European Commission Plans Purchase Incentives Limited to Vehicles Manufactured Largely in the EU
French District of Pas-de-Calais Introduces Immediate License Suspension for Drivers Using Mobile Phones
Volkswagen Targets €60 Billion in Cost Reductions as Sales Decline and Global Pressures Intensify
Nigel Farage Names Reform UK Frontbench Team and Signals Zero Tolerance for Internal Dissent
Qualcomm to Withdraw UK Lawsuit Over Smartphone Chip Royalty Dispute
Major UK Banks Explore Domestic Card Network to Rival Visa and Mastercard
Cold Health Alert Issued Across UK as Temperatures Drop Sharply
Nine-Year-Old Becomes First Child in UK to Undergo Groundbreaking Leg-Lengthening Surgery
UK Workers Face Stagnant Incomes and a Softening Labour Market as Unemployment Climbs
UK Passport Rules Tightened for British Dual Nationals Under New Travel Guidance
California Deepens Global Climate Alliance with New UK Pact and Major Clean-Tech Investment Drive
UK Supreme Court Tightens Rules on Use of ‘Milk’ and ‘Cheese’ Labels for Plant-Based Products
University of Kentucky Postpones Feb. 19 Law Enforcement Training Exercise in Lexington
‘The only thing illegal is Keir Starmer handing these islands to a country like Mauritius!’
JD Vance says Germany is “killing itself” by taking in millions of fake asylum seekers from culturally incompatible nations.
UK Markets Signal Opportunity as Starmer Confronts Intensifying Political Pressure
Trump Criticises Newsom’s UK Climate Pact, Defends Federal Authority Over Foreign Engagements
UK’s Top Prosecutor Says ‘No One Is Above the Law’ as Police Review Claims Against Ex-Prince Andrew
Businessman Adam Brooks weighs in on the reports that the US is set to help Hamit Coskun flee the UK, over free speech concerns
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Releases 3.5 Million Pages of Jeffrey Epstein Case Files
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio Comment on European allies report blaming Russia for killing late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny using toxin from poison dart frogs
Eighty-Year-Old Lottery Winner Sentenced to 16.5 Years for Drug Trafficking
×