THE Conservative party has accepted a £93,000 donation from a fund run by one of Britain’s most senior freemasons.

The donation was paid by the Midlands-based Leamington Fund. No public records exist for the fund, which is an “unincorporated association”. However, The Sunday Times has established that the fund’s chairman is Michael Price, the provincial grandmaster of Warwickshire freemasons.

Price, 70, is the most senior mason in Birmingham and the surrounding area, and is in charge of 200 lodges and about 6,500 masons. The donation will benefit the Tory party across the Midlands rather than the national party.

Donations to political parties by unincorporated associations have attracted scrutiny as critics claim they can be used to hide the identity of backers.

The associations are effectively voluntary organisations which do not have to file public records in the same way as charities and companies, and therefore remain anonymous.

Laws introduced by Labour in 2001 stipulate that unincorporated associations cannot be set up purely to act as conduits for donations to political parties. Those breaking the rules face up to a year in jail and an unlimited fine.

Since 2001, political parties have been forced to reveal donations of more than £5,000. However, unincorporated associations can make donations without revealing who is behind them.

Freemasons have long sought to shake off their caricature as a group of secretive and ageing businessmen in aprons and rolled-up trousers.

Members swear not to reveal secret rituals. In 1986, the rules changed so that they no longer had to agree to have their throats slit and tongues cut out if they broke their oaths.

The modern era of free-masonry began in 1717 with the foundation of the first grand lodge of England.

The judiciary and police service operate voluntary arrangements for masons in their ranks to reveal their membership, although implementation of the system is patchy.

George VI, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Alexander Fleming, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Rudyard Kipling and Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum are among former members. The current grandmaster is the Duke of Kent.

Discussion of politics is banned at masonic meetings. A spokesman for the Warwickshire masons said Price chaired the Leamington Fund, but it had no connections to the lodge.

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