City donors ramped up their contributions to the Conservative Party in 2021, despite mounting concern over Boris Johnson's premiership, his government's perceived flouting of their own Covid-19 rules and frustrations over Brexit.

Overall contributions from the largest City donors — which include hedge fund founder Sir Michael Hintze, Lord Peter Cruddas of trading platform CMC Markets, and Jon Moynihan, the chair and co-principal of venture capital firm Ipex capital — jumped by 21% in the 11 months to December 2021 to total £982,100, compared with £790,916 for the whole of last year.