London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Tory donor urges Boris Johnson to resign amid No 10 party scandals

Tory donor urges Boris Johnson to resign amid No 10 party scandals

John Griffin, one of the party’s biggest backers, joins growing calls for PM to quit role and seek fresh mandate
One of the Conservatives’ most generous donors has called on Boris Johnson to resign and stand again for the Tory party nomination amid growing calls from its backers for a change of leadership.

John Griffin, the taxi firm tycoon who has given £4m to the Tories since 2013, has become at least the fifth donor to publicly raise concerns over the Downing Street parties scandal.

It comes as anger continues to simmer against the prime minister and his administration for repeatedly breaking Covid rules to hold parties in Downing Street while the rest of the country was in lockdown. A survey of grassroots Conservative supporters found that 40% said he should resign.

Griffin, the founder of Addison Lee, said Johnson should allow the party and voters to judge whether he is fit for office. “It is a shame. The whole situation has become comical. Boris has blotted his copybook and now needs to start again.

“I would like to see him resign and re-present himself to the party and, if he gets the nomination, to the nation. We need a fresh start, otherwise this will go on for ever,” he said.

Griffin’s comments follow statements from three backers this weekend who questioned Johnson’s role as leader. Peter Hargreaves, the Brexit-backing billionaire who gave £1m to the Tories for the 2019 general elections campaign, said he was “very reluctant” to continue supporting the party financially.

“He doesn’t want to do good – he just wants to be prime minister. That’s his only agenda. He changed from a remainer to Brexit specifically because it would give him a chance to be prime minister … As the Conservatives look now, I would be very reluctant to support them financially,” he said.

Hargreaves was one of three donors who voiced concerns to the Sunday Times. Lord Michael Spencer, founder of the Nex Group, formerly Icap, financial interdealer brokers, said: “I can’t see how Boris can last, I really can’t. He just hasn’t changed and he won’t change.” The restaurateur Richard Caring, who gave more than £200,000 to the Conservatives in 2019, told the newspaper: “He seems to have a death wish right now.”

John Caudwell, the Phones4U tycoon who gave the party £500,000 ahead of the 2019 general election, called for Johnson to clean up his administration or step aside. He told BBC News last week: “It’s the perceived arrogance, hypocrisy and rule-breaking that is impossible to justify.

“While the rest of us were striving to follow the ever changing rules – including myself, even when I deemed them to be excessive at best, nonsensical at worst – those who were setting those rules were, apparently freely and frequently, disregarding them,” he said.

The latest figures from the Electoral Commission show that the Tories received £3.7m in donations in the third quarter of 2021, double the amount received by the Labour party over the same period.

Other donors told the Guardian that they would make no fresh donations until Johnson had gone. One, who has given more than £100,000 since Johnson became party leader in 2019, said: “He has no morals. You need morals in the middle of an international pandemic.”

One former party treasurer said they did not think the current problems faced by Johnson would result in a funding crisis for the party. “There’s always worries about where donations are coming from, but the main problem is raising money for an election, which is still probably a year to two years off.

“But I don’t see this as being a run on the party’s financing. This is a midterm crisis, like all governments have, and I don’t think it’s panic time yet. Boris has this great power of recovery,” he said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×