The battle on the right is well underway, with competition between Reform and the Tories for attention, ideas and personnel. One front where the Conservatives have had more success to date is on donations, with Kemi Badenoch’s party comfortably outstripping Nigel Farage’s forces in the first quarter of this year. But with Reform topping the polls for the past seven months, it is no surprise that some Tory donors are now sniffing around and keeping their options open.

One donor of particular note is Lord Bamford, the chairman of JCB. A former Boris backer, he gave Badenoch £150,0000 at the beginning of June . But Farage has been building his own relationship with the construction giant. He rode in at the party’s local election rally on a piece of JCB equipment and did a photo stunt w

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