Tories bank £1.45 million in donations in first week of election campaign - twice that of Labour

Wealthy Tory supporters swelled the party's election war chest by nearly £1.5 million in the first week of the campaign - nearly double the amount Labour wrung from its backers.

Gordon Brown was bailed out by two unions that threw more than £600,000 into Labour's campaign to try to match Tory spending.

Donations to the big two parties dwarfed the £20,000 given to the Liberal Democrats - and entirely failed to prevent Nick Clegg's poll breakthrough thanks to the free exposure provided by the leaders' TV debate.

Half of the LibDem's paltry donations came from longstanding supporter Paul Strasburger, a figure touched by controversy since he helped the party's disgraced benefactor Michael Brown in his legal battle against fraud charges.

The donations in the week after Mr Brown announced the election date on 6 April reinforced David Cameron's heavy advantage in campaign spending power.

Among the 33 contributors to the Conservative's £1,455,811 total named by the Electoral Commission yesterday were City fund manager Michael Spencer, whose IPGL company gave £250,000, and manufacturing tycoon Chris Rea, who gave £100,000.

The Commission's list of donations does not include smaller gifts of under £7,500. Tories claimed yesterday that they have received £250,000 in payments of £50 made by ordinary supporters.

Liberal Democrats banked only £20,000 from big-spending backers in the first week of the campaign, with £10,000 each from longstanding supporters Paul Strasburger and Stephen Dawson.

Mr Strasburger, who runs property and security companies, helped Michael Brown with his legal defence.

Liberal Democrats took £2.4 million from Brown, money that boosted its 2005 election effort, before his reputation collapsed.

Brown fled the country and was convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison for seven months in his absence in 2008.

However Mr Clegg's party is thought to have pulled in £120,000 in small donations after his dramatic success in the leaders' TV debate last Thursday.

Tories accused Labour of relying on union paymasters. Party chairman Eric Pickles said: 'Not only is Gordon Brown failing to convince voters, he’s also failing to convince donors.

'With his campaign in trouble, he turns again to the striking unions to bankroll his tired and discredited party.'

But former Labour Cabinet minister David Blunkett said: 'The support that Labour are receiving from ordinary people - many of whom have not been party activists in the past, but are drawn to us now because of the vision we're offering for the future and the threat posed to that by the Tories - is breathtaking.'