Tory party donor knighted in Queen's Birthday Honours list

David Cameron (left) and Boris Johnson - Credit: PA

A major Tory Party donor has been knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Tom Gallagher, a multimillionaire property developer who has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservative Party, is honoured for “services to land development and the property business”.

The businessman is said to be part of the so-called “Chipping Norton set” centred around the Cotswolds village in former prime minister David Cameron’s old Oxfordshire constituency.

In 2016, he hosted a fiftieth birthday party for Cameron at his country mansion, Sarsden House – a 17th century listed building set in more than 400 acres of grounds.

The two men reportedly came to know one another when Cameron became the local MP and since 2007 Gallagher has donated more than £300,000 to the Tory Party.

Earlier this year, Boris Johnson registered a gift from Gallagher of a “sterling silver envelope” worth £780 following the birth of his son Wilfred.

Downing Street said later that the present had been entered on the parliamentary register in error and was being removed as the prime minister had opted to return it.

In other developments, there are knighthoods for two former Labour MPs, David Hanson and Nic Dakin, who lost their seats in last year’s general election.

And former Tory MP Anne Main, who also lost her seat last year, is made a CBE.