The vast majority of its Scottish donations went to the Dumfries and Galloway Tories and local politician, David Mundell
One family member, Henry Keswick, was reportedly part of an elite club of Tory Party donors who attended secret “leader’s group” meetings with the prime minister and other senior figures under Boris Johnson’s premiership. The Scottish Tories said at the time that Jack would not dispose of the shares, stressing it was legal to be “involved in companies which happen to be registered in Bermuda”. But a few months later, Jack did sell the shares, according to his register of interests.
Henry Keswick, former owner of the conservative publication The Spectator, was chair of Jardine Matheson from 1972 to 2018. He owns the 7000-hectare Hunthill shooting estate in the Angus Glens via a trust, and the 2,382ha Lincluden and Lochenkit Estate in Dumfriesshire via his Bermuda firm, according to data compiled by Who Owns Scotland.
John Chippendale “Chips” Keswick, Henry’s brother, died earlier this year. He counted King Charles and Queen Camilla amongst his close friends and both attended his funeral in April. The 164-hectare Weatherall Scott Trust Estate in Kirkcudbrightshire is owned by trustees on behalf of a late member of the Keswick and Weatherall family.SOUTH Scotland Labour MSP, Colin Smyth, said: “These families have been bankrolling the Tories for years and treat Dumfries and Galloway as their ancestral fiefdom.” He branded the Keswick family “the landed gentry” and accused them of attempting to “buy the election for their chums”.
Tom Brake, a former LibDem MP and director of Unlock Democracy, said: “It is time to put a stop to the rising tide of big money washing into our politics.