BOLTON bakery Warburtons donated £25,000 to the Conservatives — just days after Tory leader David Cameron was pictured in front of hundreds of loaves of their famous bread.
Mr Cameron had been taking questions from workers at Warburtons’ Variety bakery plant in Britannia Way.
The visit, on April 7, was covered live by national TV news channels and pictures of him standing in front of crates of bread were published in a number of newspapers.
Labour North East candidate David Crausby said questions had been raised at the time over product placement in Tory appearances.
His Conservative rival, Deborah Dunleavy, said she would have been surprised if the firm had not made a donation.
Richard Warburton, an executive director at the firm, was one of 150 business chiefs to sign a letter supporting the Tories’ plans to scrap the National Insurance rise.
According to the Electoral Commission, which has published details for all party donations during the General Election campaign, the donation was one of 47 the Tories received between April 13 and 19, giving them a boost of around £2.2 million.
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