Tory candidate revealed as Labour donor

Published on Sunday 15 July 2007 01:57

DAVID Cameron's campaign to snatch a spectacular by-election victory from Gordon Brown was plunged into disarray last night after it emerged his chosen candidate was a Labour donor who had his picture taken with Tony Blair less than a month ago.

Gleeful officials directing Labour's campaign in the Ealing Southall by-election disclosed that Tony Lit had attended a Labour fundraising dinner last month, shortly before he was adopted as the Tory candidate for the seat.

His company, Sunrise Radio, paid 4,800 for a table at Labour's "Celebrating Diversity" dinner on June 20, in full knowledge that the cash would go directly into the party's coffers. The climax of his evening was the opportunity to have his picture taken, along with his wife, next to the then-Labour Prime Minister - a chance the couple eagerly took.

Labour sources also claimed that the Sunrise Radio table further boosted the party's coffers by successfully bidding 4,000 for a weekend trip to Atlanta, the highlight of which is two places at a fundraising dinner for Hillary Clinton.

Details of the young tycoon's secret support for his enemies threatened to cause huge embarrassment for Cameron, who had provoked unrest in the local party by hand-picking an "outsider" to fight his first electoral showdown with Brown.

Lit, a 34-year-old Sikh businessman, was not even a member of the Conservatives before he was parachuted in to frontline Tory politics by former chairman Francis Maude.

The move was greeted with horror by local members and led directly to the defection of Brij Moham Gupta, the deputy chairman of the local party, to the Liberal Democrats.

• Gordon Brown has invited Tories to join the Labour Party in his latest effort to put himself at the head of a broad-based coalition which would dominate British politics.

In his first speech as Prime Minister to Labour's National Policy Forum yesterday, he said: "We will and must be modern not backward-looking, appeal to the mainstream not the fringe, listen to the British people, not speak just to ourselves.

"I urge all who share our values - from progressives in all areas of Britain to moderate Conservatives - to join us in making Britain the country it can be."