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    Ancient posh cash stash funding the Tories' attempts to court the Northern working class Archived Message

    Posted by sashimi on December 11, 2020, 9:02 pm

    Blue-collar Cayzer

    Solomon Highes, 11 December 2020

    (quote)
    n a demonstration of the Tory commitment to self-made men and women,
    a big slice of the Conservative Party campaigning in down-to-earth
    constituencies is funded by a man who pulled himself up by his own
    bootstraps - about 140 years ago.

    The Cayzer Family Trust funds Tory campaigning in many
    constituencies. The Cayzer money comes from a simple lad who made his
    fortune in the 19th century. It has been the fortune for a big family
    of country-estate-owning inheritors who have been living off his
    industry ever since.

    Charles Cazyer, son of a schoolmaster, was born in London's Limehouse
    in 1843, went into the shipping business and eventually became hugely
    wealthy from his own shipping firm. He used the money from his
    steamship line to buy vast country estates in Scotland. He was elected
    a Tory MP in 1892, then later made a hereditary Tory lord.

    His offspring and their offspring have all continued to enjoy his
    wealth, although they have given up shipping. Instead the Cayzer
    family make money from money.

    They gather their cash in the Cayzer Family Trust, which runs as an
    investment vehicle: the Cayzer Trust in turn owns around half of
    another investment firm called Caledonia, which allows other
    non-Cayzers to join their investment in stocks and shares.

    The Caledonia name references the family interest in Scotland - and
    among the investments is a substantial slice of AG Barr, the
    Cumbernauld-based soft-drinks firm behind the well-known bright orange
    fizzy Scottish drink Irn Bru.

    However, these are just touches of Scottishness. Both the Cayzer Trust
    and Caledonia Investments are based in a grand Westminster HQ, about
    four minutes' walk from Buckingham Palace.

    Merchant banker Charles Cayzer - or "the Honorable Charles Cayzer" to
    give his full name, heads the family trust. The Sunday Times "Rich
    List" estimated his family's wealth at around £819m in 2020, making
    them the 172nd richest people in Britain.

    The Cayzers have had big arguments over money: There was a huge family
    row in 2004, with one leading flamboyant Rolls-Royce-collecting Cayzer
    accusing another top Cayzer of "double-crossing him" over cash. This
    was settled with an £88m payout to rebel members of the family from
    the Cayzer Family Trust.

    The Cayzer family may argue, but they have been consistently Tory as
    well as consistently rich for over 100 years, with leading Cayzers
    being Tory MPs and Lords.

    Much of the Cayzer Trust money currently sloshing around the
    Conservatives has tended to flow to what are seen as "red wall"
    (Northern working-class) seats, showing that behind the supposed
    outreach to blue-collar voters, there is a lot of posh cash.

    So Tory MP Trudy Harrison took the Copeland constituency in Cumbria
    2017, a formerly Labour seat. This year the Cayzer Family Trust has
    given her local party £14,000 to help her hold the seat. The Cayzer
    Family Trust also put £7,500 into the Barrow-In-Furness Conservative
    Party in 2020 to support newly elected Tory MP Simon Fell in another
    formerly Labour seat.

    The Trust also paid £15,000 to the Penistone Conservative Party to
    support Miriam Cates, the newly elected Tory MP in this typically
    Labour Yorkshire seat.

    Mansfield Tory MP Ben Bradley helps run Blue Collar Conservatism, the
    Tory group claiming special knowledge of winning over working class
    voters. Bradley (who was privately educated) also got £7,500 of Cayzer
    Family Trust cash for his local party in 2020.

    Since 2017 the Cayzer Trust has given £175k to the Conservatives, much
    of it focussed on provincial constituencies with a history of Labour
    voting.

    It's another demonstration that the Tory aim to be the voice of
    "traditional" Northern blue-collar workers is funded by some very
    privileged, very rich people.
    (/quote)
    -- https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/blue-collar-cayzer

    Message Thread:

    • Ancient posh cash stash funding the Tories' attempts to court the Northern working class - sashimi December 11, 2020, 9:02 pm