We must crack down on secretly funded polls, Tory peer says after Sunak coup

A Conservative peer has written to the elections watchdog urging it to crack down on anonymously funded polls after one was linked to attempts to topple Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister.

Lord Robert Hayward, a former MP who is now a media commentator and member of the House of Lords, wrote to John Pullinger, the chair of the Electoral Commission, last week urging him to “act” following the “proliferation” of questionable polls.

His calls come after a mass poll was published in The Telegraph last week forecasting a 1997-style wipeout for the Conservatives, which was endorsed by former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost and paid for by a group of anonymous donors called the Conservative Britain Alliance.

Numerous Conservative figures have condemned the secrecy behind this pressure group, with ex-Chancellor George Osborne urging them to make their names public.

Lord Frost used The Telegraph’s polling to argue that the Conservatives are “going to lose, and lose bad, unless we do something about it”, and the intervention was followed by further polling that claimed the Tories could fare significantly better if Mr Sunak was no longer the party leader.

The polls have been linked to reported efforts to remove Mr Sunak from Downing Street before the next election, with former Cabinet minister Sir Simon Clarke among Tory MPs calling for him to go.

In his letter to the Electoral Commission, which was also sent to the chair of the UK Statistics Authority, (UKSA) Lord Hayward warned that there was a lack of transparency and regulation surrounding opinion polls, and asked the watchdog to consider whether it was “correct” that a poll could “be undertaken will no credible identifiable ‘beneficial owner’”.

“Despite the proliferation of polls, the industry has in recent years been left somewhat to its own devices and been merely regarded as part of the political scene with individual polls taken at face value,” he said.

Lord Hayward continued: “It would seem that recent events have highlighted the need for the ‘polling world’ to catch up with other aspects of politics and electioneering.

“I believe that it might be appropriate for the Electoral Commission and possibly the UKSA either to act or look at acting on a range of issues.”

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Alongside looking into anonymous funding for polls, Lord Hayward asked the watchdog to look at whether the UK was “adequately protected from external finance [and] influence” and whether polling firms should be allowed to ensure their data was properly represented.

It comes after YouGov, which conducted the major poll for The Telegraph, published a statement questioning how the paper had analysed and presented its data, especially regarding the assumption that Reform UK voters would return to Conservatives if the party did not stand.

Lord Hayward said: “In light of the imminence of a General Election may I ask that the Electoral Commission look at the matters raised above and whether they are worth considering in more detail.”

Last week, i revealed that the Tory party had launched an inquiry into the shadowy funding of the Conservative Britain Alliance amid concerns it is being backed by Reform donors trying to destabilise Rishi Sunak.

Party sources claimed that any Tory MPs or peers associated with the group would be stripped of the party whip if there is found to be a link between the Conservative Britain Alliance and donors to Nigel Farage’s Reform party.

Others have called for Lord Frost, who endorsed the poll, to be blocked from standing as an MP after openly criticising the Government and the Conservative Party in recent weeks.