Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
THE group of Conservative MPs claiming to represent “blue-collar workers” is funded by a City trader who is one of Britain’s richest men.
Blue Collar Conservatism is a Tory group claiming to “focus on working-class voters” and fight Labour’s “posh metropolitan socialism.” It lists 158 MPs as supporters on its website.
Figures from the Electoral Commission show Michael Spencer is Blue Collar Conservatism’s chief funder — he has given the Tory group £45,000 since 2019, with the latest donation, £15,000, made last July.
Martin Taylor, the hedge-fund multimillionaire who has poured millions into pushing Labour rightwards, helped finance Lucy Powell’s supposedly dissenting campaign — suggesting her victory was not the ‘soft-left’ rebellion some have claimed, says SOLOMON HUGHES
BLANE SAVAGE recommends the display of nine previously unseen works by the Glaswegian artist, novelist and playwright


