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Times Online – The Tory party conference got off to an embarrassing start today after it emerged that the Conservatives have taken large donations from hedge-fund managers whose firms made vast sums of money from taking bets in some of Britain’s crisis-hit banks.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, has accepted almost £2m from hedge-fund managers who took bets on banks such as Halifax Bank of Scotland, which was forced into an emergency rescue by Lloyds TSB, and Bradford & Bingley, which is itself on the brink of collapse.

The practise of taking down bets on shares, known as short-selling, has now been temporarily banned by the Financial Services Authority, the City watchdog, for all bank stocks. However the revelations will be particularly embarrassing for Mr Cameron and George Osborne, his shadow Chancellor, since they both specifically declined to criticise the activity earlier this month.

A string of the hedge funds have been offered membership of an exclusive dining club reserved for backers who give £50,000 or more to the Conservative party.

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Tags: appropriate-technology, chief-business-officer, chief-executive, credit-losses, housing-market, more-than-five-years, royal-bank-of-scotland, tax-exile, term-debt

Guardian.co.uk – The Tories were accused last night of being bankrolled by a City ‘wolf pack’ after it emerged that the party was receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds from hedge fund managers who have been making vast sums of money from plunging bank shares.

After the Financial Services Authority had, in effect, barred the controversial practice of short-selling bank stocks and the Treasury was forced to draw up a rescue package for Bradford and Bingley, it emerged that a small group of City financiers who have made fortunes from falling stock markets are paying at least £50,000 a year to the party.

Their donations entitle them to membership of an elite supporters club called the Leaders Group, which bestows invitations to functions attended by David Cameron, something that has prompted allegations that the Tory leader is supporting ‘cash for access’. Last night, in an attempt to quell a mounting row over the party’s finances ahead of this week’s conference, the party put details of the Leaders Group on its website.

It has also emerged the Conservatives have continued to receive money from Lord Laidlaw, a Monaco-based tax exile who has given the party more than £3m. One donation came after the fact that he had taken part in orgies with prostitutes was exposed in the tabloids.

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Tags: appropriate-technology, ccm, credit-losses, global-economy, housing-market, peril, top-businessmen