The Conservatives paid £2.4m to a lobbying firm co-owned by Sir Lynton Crosby, David Cameron’s campaign strategist, in the run-up to the general election, according to new Electoral Commission data.
The latest campaign spending figures reveal for the first time the full value of the party’s relationship with CTF Partners, the company co-founded by the Australian who is widely credited with engineering the Tories’ victory at the ballot box last year.
Crosby came under fire last month after the prime minister awarded him a knighthood, a move that prompted accusations the government has turned the honours systems into an “old boys’ club”.
Responding to the spending figures, the Labour MP Jess Phillips said the Tories had “lavished millions on their election campaign, including with Lynton Crosby’s firm, and he has since been richly rewarded with a knighthood”.
She added: “Sadly the choices the Tories have made since the election show, as per usual, it’s working families again paying the price.”
Overall, the commission’s figures show the Conservatives spent almost £16m before the election, while Labour’s bill came to £12m including £577 on “chicken suits”, which the party has previously used in photo opportunities.
The data also suggests the Tory party has leapfrogged Labour on the digital campaign trail. While the Tories spent £1.2m on advertising with Facebook, Labour spent just £16,000. This was considerably less than Ukip, which paid over £90,000 to the social network.
Although UK political parties cannot buy TV or radio advertising, there are, however, no restrictions on spending when it comes to online advertising. In the run-up to the last election the Conservatives launched a pre-roll ad on YouTube that has received almost 270,000 views.
Out on the campaign trail, the Conservatives appeared to enjoy luxuries Labour was unable to afford. The party paid almost £250,000 to two private jet firms and a heliport in London.
There was no sign of spending on the controversial Road Trip campaign hit by claims of bullying and harassment by its organiser, Mark Clarke, which he has denied.
However, there was almost £3,000 signed off to one of Clarke’s associates, India Brummitt, who resigned as a parliamentary aide at the height of the scandal. About £430 of spending on the battle bus campaign run by Clarke was signed off by the chairman’s office – indicating the budget of Grant Shapps and Lord Feldman. The signature of the director who approved the spending is redacted.
In terms of overall advertising expenditure – across print and online – the Tories splashed out £3.6m, which dwarfed the £900,000 spent by Labour.
Beneficiaries of the Tories’ lavish ad spending included M&C Saatchi, the advertising agency behind attack ads that depicted Ed Miliband in the pockets of Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond, and a more digitally oriented firm, VCCP.
Parties are required by the commission to provide receipts for campaign expenditure, excluding staff costs. Overall, the latest disclosure shows six political parties reported spending of £36m, an increase of £6m on the 2010 campaign.
The Liberal Democrats, which suffered heavy losses on election night, spent just £3.5m on their campaign.