Fury as Tory party donors are handed NHS contracts worth £1.5BILLION under health reforms

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham uncovered the links between private health firms and prominent Conservative supporters.Private health care firms with Tory links have been awarded NHS contracts worth nearly £1.5billion.

Circle Health landed £1.36billion worth of health service work after several ­of its investors gifted about £1.5million to the Conservatives.
And Care UK has contracts worth another £102.6million. Its chairman John Nash was made a peer after boosting Tory coffers by £247,250.
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham, who ­uncovered the figures, fumed: “Nobody gave David Cameron ­permission to sell the NHS to his friends.
“It’s shocking the same Tory donors who ­bankrolled the development of their NHS reorganisation policy are now ­profiting from the sell-off of NHS services.”
Labour’s research shows Circle Health’s parent company, Circle Holdings PLC, is owned by a series of hedge funds.

Lansdowne Partners, with a 29.2% stake, was founded by Sir Paul Ruddock, who donated £692,592 to the Tories.
David Craigen, who gave the party £59,000, is also involved in Lansdowne.

Invesco Perpetual owns 28.7% of Circle Holdings. It was set up by Sir Martyn Arbib, who donated £466,330.