New housing secretary Michael Gove has been urged to return £100,000 in donations he received last month from a property developer.
Parliamentary records show that Gove registered two donations of £50,000 from a German property developer Zak Gertler three weeks ago.
The Gertler family developed offices in Germany and has been linked to property deals in London and Birmingham after moving into the UK in the 1990s.
The new housing, communities and local government secretary previously accepted £10,000 from the same donor in July 2016 to help his abortive party leadership bid after the Brexit referendum, and the same amount again in June 2019.
Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “Conservative planning reforms are already handing more powers to developers, and now it seems the new housing secretary is accepting donations from them too. To avoid any conflict of interest, Michael Gove must return this money.”
Gertler, who has invested in UK commercial property but lives in Israel, is among several repeat donors to the new housing secretary, including Aberdeen developer Alan Massie.
