Joan Edwards' Bizarre Donation To 'Party In Government Of The Day', Split Between Coalition

Woman Leaves £500,000 To Coalition
Coalition donation
Coalition donation
PA

When the latest political funding figures were published, one donation jumped out among the usual suspects of trade unions and millionaire businessmen.

Joan L B Edwards left the princely sum of £519,999 - which was divided between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems.

It left pundits baffled - was she an even bigger supporter of the coalition than messrs Cameron and Clegg?

A Lib Dem spokeswoman confirmed Ms Edwards had in fact left the bequest to 'the party in government of the day'.

This was complicated by the formation of the coalition, but her lawyers decided to split the donation based on the numbers of ministers each party had.

This left the Tories with £519,999, and the Lib Dems with £99,423.

Elsewhere, the Electoral Commission figures also revealed a surge in donations to Ukip:

And Labour's reliance on the trade unions was underlined, with the likes of Unite and Unison handing the party more than £2.4 million in the second quarter of 2013.

The figures covered donations of more than £7,500.

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