How can anyone trust the Tory Leader David Cameron stands accused of being in the pocket of bankers as a Mirror investigation reveals his dependence on their cash.
City fatcats and their firms gave the Tories £5.9million in just the first nine months of last year - amid a financial crisis which has seen millions of workers pay the price of bankers' recklessness.
That is almost half of the £13.5million raised by Mr Cameron - and at 44% the highest proportion since the former Eton pupil became Conservative leader.
One of the biggest donors is "the godfather" of UK hedge funds Stanley Fink.
Hedge funds are investment firms blamed for fuelling the credit crunch and Mr Fink, 52, built the Man Group into the world's biggest such enterprise.
With a private fortune estimated at £118million he quit the firm last year to become Tory co-treasurer and has given the party more than £1million of his own cash.
Mr Fink has pledged to "blow Labour out of the water" by raising £40million for the election battle.
Australian ex-army officer Michael Hintze, who controls £4.5billion through the CQS hedge fund, has donated almost £1million of his estimated £250million fortune to the Tories. The party revealed he had loaned them £2.5million when the cash-for-honours scandal broke but he was never accused of any wrongdoing.
David Rowland came back from tax exile in Guernsey to help bankroll Mr Cameron's campaign.
The financier gave £1.25million last year with his "passionate concern for liberty".
City deal-maker and Christian Ken Costa runs investment bank Lazard's international arm. A church warden, he chairs the organisation that runs Alpha courses to introduce people to the faith. Mr Costa has given £163,355 to the Tories since Mr Cameron took charge, including almost £50,000 last year.
Another multi-millionaire Christian is Michael Farmer, who made his fortune by founding RK Capital Management, an Anglo-US metal-trading hedge fund. He has given the Conservatives more than £2million, including £654,000 last year.
With donations like these the Tories are set to outgun Labour's election spending by three to one. And the figures - which do not include millions from secretive backer Lord Ashcroft - make a mockery of the Tory leader's claim that he would cut reliance on wealthy donors.
In fact, donations linked to bankers and financiers made up just a quarter of the money the Tories received in 2008, when they gave £4.2million of the £16.4million pouring in to party coffers.
In the two years before that, bankers gave £5.5million, or 30%, of the £18.7million raised in 2007 and £6.2million, or 35%, of the £17.7million pulled in during 2006 - Mr Cameron's first full year in charge.
Labour MP Andy Slaughter will fight the new Hammersmith seat in West London, where his Tory opponent has been bankrolled by Caroline Nash, the wife of City fatcat John Nash.
Mr Slaughter pointed out: "These donations from a host of fatcats show just how cosily the Tories are nestled in the back pockets of rich bankers. These people simply don't give something for nothing.
"People will be rightly suspicious when they see the people trying to buy influence.
"It's no wonder Cameron is so committed to scrapping the 50p tax rate for the super-rich - and cutting inheritance tax for the richest 3,000 families - when his party's cash flow is so dependent on keeping rich bankers happy." The Tory leader kickstarted his election campaign with a £500,000 billboard blitz this week - four months before the election, almost certain to be on May 6.
Ex-Home Secretary David Blunkett, who is spearheading a Labour fundraising drive, yesterday admitted his cash-strapped party cannot compete financially with the fatcat-backed Tories.
A meeting of the National Policy Forum to thrash out the manifesto had to be scrapped on cost grounds and Mr Blunkett admitted to The Times: "We are trying to be careful so we do not end up bankrupt after the election if this all goes pear-shaped."
Labour has a campaign budget of around £8million. The Tories, meanwhile, are expected to raise £25million.
A legal limit on parties' election spending has been set at about £18million but local parliamentary candidates can spend up to £40,000.
The Mirror recently revealed how Tory cash has been channelled into key marginal seats from central funds in an operation overseen by Lord Ashcroft. Last night the Tories claimed to be receiving donations "from an increasingly wide base". A spokesman said: Our base of donors is widening all the time - unlike Labour who are really almost exclusively reliant on trade union cash."
FINK
Quit Man Group to be Tories' co-treasurer. Has given £1m of own cash.
HINTZE
Controls £4.5bn hedge fund. Given almost £1m, worth an estimated £250m.
ROWLAND
Back from tax exile and donated £1.25m to the Tories last year.
