As divisions emerge between the Green Party membership and its leaders following the passing of the Zionism is Racism motion at last weeks conference, I have found that former party leader Caroline Lucas previously accepted tens of thousands from prominent Labour Party financiers.
In 2018, Lucas accepted a £10,000 donation from Lisbet Rausing, but the billionaire Swede has also given over £400,000 to three Labour MPs.
These include the current Labour Foreign Minister, Ed Miliband, who received over £250,000 from Rausing. In 2014, Miliband was taken to Tel Aviv to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu. Jennifer Gerber, a former adviser to Andy Burnham, said of the trip: “It was a privilege for Labour Friends of Israel to join.”
In the past, Miliband has said that he owes a “debt” to Israel. He was joined on the 2014 delegation by Douglas Alexander, another Andy Burnham cabinet pick. Labour Friends of Israel, a pressure group which paid for the trip, has consistently refused to disclose its funders.
Lisbet Rausing gave Labour MP Steve Reed, a long-time ally of Morgan McSweeney, over £150,000. A former Labour frontbencher who served under Ed Miliband told me that McSweeney’s inner circle “ruled with a rod of iron” and “talked openly of taking over the party”.
In March, then Labour minister Steve Reed presented the Foreign Interference Bill in Parliament. He did not declare his own affiliation to Labour Friends of Israel or donations received from the group. He also failed to mention a previous meeting with six pro-Israeli lobbyists.
Labour MP Fred Thomas received £15,000 from Caroline Lucas donor Lisbet Rausing. He also received £4500 from David Kogan, who the Labour government later made Independent Football Regulator chair.
Kogan has previously described himself as a “long-time Labour Party supporter”. Thomas was a co-chair of the Defence Technology all-party parliamentary group, which was shut down last year whilst being investigated for receiving money from a state-owned Israeli arms firm.
Thomas was also funded by the scandal-ridden Labour Together think tank, who gave him £10,000. Gary Lubner, the Brentford FC shareholder who financed Andy Burnham’s leadership bid, donated £15,000 to Thomas. Serial pro-Israeli lobbyist Stuart Roden gave £5000.
In 2018, Lisbet’s sister, Sigrid Rausing, also gave then Green Party MP Caroline Lucas £10,000. But in 2024, Sigrid gave £150,000 to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party. Her Sigrid Rausing Trust has funnelled over £1.8 million into Hope not Hate.
Hope not Hate has a history of close links to both the Labour Party and the lobby. Alison Phillips resigned as a director of the organisation on July 16th. Four days later, she was appointed as Andy Burnham’s deputy chief of staff.
Former Hope not Hate director Ruth Anderson was promoted to the Labour frontbench by Andy Burnham in July. Lisa Nandy donor Simon Tuttle was a director until last month. And convicted sex offender Liron Velleman, who was a political organiser for Hope not Hate, also served as a Labour councillor.
The Sigrid Rausing Trust has also given £100,000 to the New Israel Fund, which says that it works to “strengthen Israel’s democracy”. In March, the elected Israeli government passed the Death Penalty Act, which in practice applies only to non-Jews.
Caroline Lucas also received £10,000 from Matthew Oakeshott, another prominent political donor. As well as supporting the Greens, Oakeshott has pumped hundreds of thousands of pounds into both Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Before the Zionism Is Racism motion was passed, were the three parties planning an electoral coalition?