Jewish megadonor returns to Labour after 'cancer of antisemitism' in party under Corbyn

Electoral Commission figures to be released on Thursday show that South African-born Lubner gave £500,000 to Labour in the first quarter of 2023 on top of £200,000 in previous donations. 

The businessman said he had given “significantly more” in the second quarter of 2023 and stressed he would continue that financial trajectory to help Labour build up its “capacity and capability” before the general election next year.

Lubner added that he wanted to give away “the vast majority” of his fortune to charitable causes, and that his three children supported the decision.

He added: "My kids are not interested. I don’t think it’s the right thing to pass on that amount of wealth."

As to why he is pledging such an amount, he added in an interview with the Financial Times: “There’s only one bed you can sleep in.”

Lubner, a member of North Western Reform synagogue, said it was the “long list of Tory failures in the last 13 years” that made him committed to bankrolling the opposition, with Brexit being “top of the list”.

The South African-born businessman went on to say that he was “politicised” after being conscripted into the South African police force, witnessing the apartheid he saw first-hand as “brutal."