A businessman has revealed he is the person who donated £75,000 to Robert Jenrick via a company that has taken loans from a tax haven-registered firm.
Phillip Ullmann, who describes himself as a social business entrepreneur, said he provided the donation to the Conservative leadership candidate through Spott Fitness, which he said is part of his family’s group of companies.
Questions were raised over the weekend about the origin of the donation as the fitness coaching app company’s latest accounts show it has no employees, has never made a profit and has more than £300,000 in debts.
In January, the company registered a loan from Centrovalli, a business registered in the British Virgin Islands, as first revealed by Tortoise Media.
British law states companies that donate to political parties or politicians must be UK-based and carry out business in the UK.
Mr Ullmann has now revealed he was behind the donation from Spott Fitness, but did not explain why he did not donate personally, as he has done for several other politicians.
The Labour Party have reported the donations to the Electoral Commission, with the elections watchdog saying it is “carefully considering” the complaint.
Mr Jenrick defended the Spott Fitness donation on Sunday, saying he understood it was “perfectly legal and valid”, but he would not say it was from Mr Ullmann, just that he has “obviously met people who are involved in the company” and it would be set out “on Companies House in the normal way”.
Companies House does not have Mr Ullmann, who sold his family’s recruitment business Cordant Group in 2020, registered as part of the company but does have Mark Dembovsky as the sole director. Mr Dembovsky is also director of Covenant Advisory, the consultancy business Mr Ullmann set up.
Mr Ullmann said he is “concerned about the grave challenges” facing the UK and the world and has “come to see that we need huge political change” – which he thinks Mr Jenrick can achieve.
The businessman said: “I also wanted to back Robert Jenrick whose serious solutions to big challenges – including on migration – appeal to me.
“I don’t agree with him on everything but broadly we are aligned.
“I chose to give the money from Spott Fitness, a company which is part of my family’s group of businesses.
“It’s a phenomenal company that’s using tech to improve people’s health and will be a hugely successful business.
Ullmann: Donor transparency important
“But I don’t want there to be any suggestion at all that I’m hiding anything and I understand the importance of donor transparency.
“So I’m happy to confirm my connection to Spott. I love my country, I was born and raised in the UK, and have always paid tax and lived here.
“I’m going to continue to set out my ideas for changing the world and our financial system and am always happy to meet with people and set out my ideas in this space.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
All four Tory candidates interviewed
Mr Ullmann, whose German-Jewish parents fled the Nazis to come to the UK, said he has previously donated to Labour peer Maurice Glasman as well as Conservative MPs Sir John Hayes and Danny Kruger, the New Conservatives group and the New Social Covenant Unit.
Read more:
Jenrick defends £75k donation after criticising Labour in freebies row
Badenoch: Maternity pay comments ‘misrepresented’
Rosie Duffield’s letter is savage especially regarding the PM
The political donations register shows ahead of the general election he gave £20,000 to Sir John, £660 worth of FA Cup semi-final tickets to Mr Kruger, who is the chair of New Conservatives and New Social Covent Unit, and £50,000 to the New Conservatives group itself.
Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International UK, said when companies fund politicians via offshore loans “it raises serious questions about the money’s provenance”.
He added: “Electoral law was supposed to only allow businesses with a substantive UK presence to make political contributions, yet examples like this show it permits anonymous cash from anywhere in the world into our democracy.”
The other Conservative leadership candidates are: Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat and James Cleverly.
They are taking part in a series of hustings at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham this week and will be voted down to two by MPs, then members will get to choose between the remaining two and a leader will be announced on 2 November.