A former Labour donor has pledged £5,000 to try to help Ross Thomson retain the Aberdeen South seat for the Conservatives.
The donation from property developer Alan Massie was registered on October 9 and a spokesman for Mr Thomson confirmed that it was for his campaign for re-election.
Mr Massie, a director of Carlton Rock who now lives in Jersey, was previously one of Labour’s top private donors.
He handed the party more than £400,000 between 2011 and 2016, and also made three donations worth a total of £20,000 to an Aberdeen Liberal Democrat branch in 2006 and 2007.
But the tycoon, who still has a house in Aberdeen, revealed in May that he had sponsored a fringe event at the Scottish Conservative conference in the city because he had quit Labour.
He said he was now supporting the Conservatives because he did not believe Labour could be “trusted with the Union”.
Speaking to The P&J at the time, Mr Massie said he planned to back Tory candidates financially in marginal constituencies at upcoming elections, but signalled that he may also support different pro-UK candidates if they have a better chance of defeating the SNP.
SNP sources responded by criticising the Tories for accepting cash from “donors based in tax havens”.
In June, it emerged that Mr Massie had stepped in to help Mr Thomson after he was threatened with legal action by the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford.
Mr Blackford threatened to sue him over comments made on social media and Mr Massie picked up a £1,800 bill for Mr Thomson to consult a QC.
Mr Thomson subsequently apologised in a private phone call to Mr Blackford and the matter was dropped.
Mr Massie also donated £10,000 to Michael Gove’s unsuccessful campaign for the Tory leadership earlier this year.
A former city councillor, Mr Thomson won the Aberdeen South seat for the Conservatives in 2017, with a majority of 4,752.
It had previously been held by the SNP’s Callum McCaig for two years, and by Labour’s Dame Anne Begg from 1997 to 2015.
