UK PM Johnson's party raises 26 times more in donations than Labour

• The biggest backer of the Conservatives was theatre producer John Gore who gave 1 million pounds.
• The Conservatives posted their first deficit in eight years and were in a worse financial position than Labour.
• The Liberal Democrats raised 275,000 pounds in the period while Nigel Farage's Brexit Party raised 250,000 pounds.

LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party raised 26 times more in political donations than the main opposition Labour Party in the first week of the official general election campaign.

The Electoral Commission said the Conservatives raised 5.7 million pounds ($7.4 million) in Nov. 6-12 while Jeremy Corbyn's Labour raised just 218,500 pounds.

That left Labour trailing even two of the smaller parties in the fundraising stakes, although Labour tends to raise more money from smaller donations that fall below the Electoral Commission's 7,500-pound notification threshold.

The Liberal Democrats raised 275,000 pounds in the period while Nigel Farage's Brexit Party raised 250,000 pounds.

The biggest backer of the Conservatives was theatre producer John Gore who gave 1 million pounds.He was the party's biggest donor last year.

The next three largest donors were the travel company Trailfinders, Countrywide Developers and WA Capital, who each gave 500,000 pounds to the party.

The news will provide a boost to the Conservative Party as it coordinates advertising campaigns and staffing before the Dec. 12 election.

At the end of last year, the Conservatives posted their first deficit in eight years and were in a worse financial position than Labour, according to annual accounts published in August.

However the party outperformed Labour earlier this year as it became apparent that Britain was set to hold another election, while Johnson himself broke the record for the most money raised by a British politician in his bid to become prime minister earlier this year.