Of all the uses to which Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne might put their money, there are few more innocent than giving it to a political party. Neither want, nor expect, preferment, honors or patronage. Both are idealistic by nature and philanthropic by habit. They have all the personal wealth they need to fund their lifestyles, and harbor hopes only for enriching Britain by their actions.

I might not agree with all their ideas for how one might make this country stronger, or indeed how best to spend £72 million to improve our governance. But they have shown themselves a good deal shrewder than me in making money, and they should be entitled, within the law, to spend it as they wish. The self-righteous anger directed toward them reminds me of the Establishment reaction to Sir James Goldsmith when he launched the Referendum party in the 1990s. How dare this rootless cosmopolitan businessman seek to subvert our democracy, etc.

If you are really worried about cash from the wealthy corrupting our democracy – and I am – then attention is better directed at the lobbying, lunching and crony corporatism by which major City players, incumbents in areas like house-building, defense and energy, and outsourcing giants such as Serco and Capita direct government action and funding to suit their own vested interests. There are daily conspiracies against the public interest hatched in boardrooms and accepted quietly by supine or compromised government departments. Harborne and Delo, by contrast, like Sir James before them, hand over their cash in........

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