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Reform UK is preparing for a new influx of funding as it hosts several former Conservative donors at a £25,000-per-person dinner in Mayfair next week.

Party officials said party leader Nigel Farage and treasurer Nick Candy hope to raise more than £1 million from the event, which will be held at the Oswald’s Private Members Club in Mayfair on Tuesday.

The dinner is expected to be attended by individuals who have collectively given hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservative Party in the past, in the center of… repair This would increase pressure on Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch after several defections from her party.

A person familiar with the arrangements said tickets for the event ranged from £10,000 to £25,000, and the event was expected to attract up to 90 people.

One former Tory donor who was planning to attend told the Financial Times that they chose a £25,000 ticket, rather than a cheaper option, in order to examine how the party “treats its major donors, and whether they respect them”.

“Interest in supporting the Conservatives is at an all-time low,” said the person, who has given large sums of money to the Conservatives and asked to remain anonymous. Interest in supporting the reform is a little better, but the jury is still out on whether it will be implemented.

The person added that they understood the event was an experiment for further fundraising, adding: “Reform wants to see if this kind of thing will work.”

Party officials are also making preparations for a larger gathering in the summer — dubbed the Reform Festival — which they hope will attract thousands of attendees.

Another senior party figure said the summer event would be “a celebration of all the amazing progress reform has made and all that we and our supporters will achieve together in the years to come.”

The two events form part of a drive to raise tens of millions of pounds for the party, as it strives to increase its appeal ahead of local elections this year, and as it looks ahead to the next general election later this decade.

Reform polls at 24 percent, one point higher than the Conservatives and three points lower than Labour, according to the average of recent opinion polls, raising concern in the ruling party and the main opposition.

The former Conservative Party donor said they hoped Farage could “bring the two sides together” by merging the Conservative and Reform parties. The two parties ruled out any such step or reaching an electoral agreement.

But pumping money into the coffers of the Reform Party will serve as an incentive for the party after technology billionaire Elon Musk expressed his reservations about giving reform a chance. Big donation to it in recent weeks.

Reform insiders say the uptick in donations will be the latest sign of the rival party’s local standing batchafter Farage and Candy traveled to Washington to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this week and showcased their ties to MAGA Republicans.

However, Farage’s party faces a major test in local elections scheduled for May, to prove that its support base is not just a paper phenomenon. Last spring, the party put forward candidates for one in every seven council seats up for election, only getting two council members overall.

This year, party insiders are hoping for far more significant gains, including two newly created council positions: Greater Lincolnshire, for which they will contest with former Tory Andrea Jenkins against a Conservative opponent, and Hull and East Yorkshire, where Labor is also in the running.

Candy, who made a fortune in the property market and previously donated hundreds of thousands to the Conservative Party, joined the Reform Party as its treasurer last month and pledged to donate at least £1 million of his own money to the party. He has since boasted that he will raise at least £40 million for reform.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “The Conservatives are under new leadership and are working hard to renew and rebuild trust with the British people.”