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Tories auction off shoe shopping trip with May, tea with mayor

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Press Trust of India London
Last Updated : Feb 11 2015 | 4:45 PM IST
In a novel fund-raiser ahead of elections, Britain's ruling Conservative Party auctioned off unique opportunities from shoe-shopping with Home Secretary Theresa May to having tea with London Mayor Boris Johnson, raking up more than 3 million pounds.
A mystery bidder paid 17,500 pounds to go shoe-shopping with May at the Conservative's Black and White dinner that became one of the most successful fund-raising event in the party's history.
Ahead of the May general election, the dinner on Monday raised far in excess of its 3 million pounds target, The Telegraph reported.
The opportunity to go shoe-shopping with the Home Secretary, which included tea and a 500 pounds voucher for store in Bond Street, central London, was one of the star lots and bidding continued until after midnight.
May is renowned for her leopard-print kitten heels and diamante patent brogues.
Guests bid 210,000 pounds for a bronze bust of Margaret Thatcher and 220,000 pounds for a week-long holiday in a Spanish fortress in Majorca.

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Party donors were also invited to bid for a roast chicken dinner at the home of Michael Gove, the Chief Whip, a copy of the 2015 election manifesto signed by the Prime Minister and a set of George Osborne's signed budgets.
They were also bid for a 5-kilometre run with Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, dinner at the Carlton Club with Sajid Javid, the culture secretary, and tea with London Mayor Johnson.
Johnson, said during a trip to the US, that he was unaware that he had been put up for auction.
"Alas, I was not there. I'm told that I've been auctioned in some way but I want you to know I had no knowledge of this. I will only do it if the Mayoral diary permits," he said.
A 10km cross-country run with Iain Duncan Smith was also auctioned off.
The event at London's Grosvenor House hotel was attended by most of the Cabinet, David Cameron's election strategist Lynton Crosby and Jim Messina, Barack Obama's former aide.
Cameron joked that the man Labour hated the most was not Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, or Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, but James Blunt, the singer, because he "went to a public school and has been a success".
Tickets cost 500 pounds to 1,500 pounds a head, depending on the guest on each table, and guests were entertained by a group of breakdancers.

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First Published: Feb 11 2015 | 4:45 PM IST

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