MP Luke Murphy given private donations for election campaign

Among the items declared by Basingstoke MP Luke Murphy in the latest register of members’ financial interests were various donations given to support his battle in Basingstoke to win the seat at the General Election on July 4, including one of £12,000.

Mr Murphy won the Basingstoke seat for Labour for the first time in history, winning with 20,922 votes and taking the seat from former Conservative MP Maria Miller, who secured 14,438 votes after 19 years representing the constituency.

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Basingstoke MP Luke Murphy (Image: UK Parliament) According to figures published in the register of members' financial interests, Mr Murphy’s campaign was given a financial boost of £39,000.

The register lists donations the MP has received in his official capacity.

It includes a private individual donation of £12,000 from Gary Lubner to support Mr Murphy’s campaign.

The boss of Autoglass was reported to have donated almost £6m the party ahead of the election.

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The businessman, who made hundreds of millions of pounds running the company behind Autoglass, told the Financial Times that he hoped his support would keep Labour in power “for a long time”.

Born in South Africa, he said his political views had been shaped by being conscripted into the police during apartheid, and his grandparents having come to South Africa to escape Jewish pogroms in Russia.

A second private donation of £10,000 to support campaigning was made by Martin Taylor in March this year.

According to national reports, he is a hedge fund manager who has contributed almost £5m in donations over the last decade to the Labour party.

Another donation of £7,000 was made to Mr Murphy by the GMB trade union to support campaigning and £10,000 from Labour Together Ltd.