´óÏó´«Ã½

Last year, the Conservative treasurer Michael Spencer said that in the upcoming fight with Labour they would "blow them out of the water" with the money they raised.

Today's publication of the latest donation figures by the Electoral Commission, the last set before the election, suggests they will do just that. The Tories raised a whopping £10.4m in the last three months of last year, dwarfing Labour's still respectable £5m.

And remember the national spending limit for the 12 month period before polling day is just under £19m, which suggests that with adding other funds in their war-chest, the Conservatives will have lots of money left over after polling day.

Mind you, they might well need that if there's a second election soon. (Goodness knows how Labour would ever fund such a follow-up contest).

To put today's Tory figure into more context, in the equivalent quarter before the last general election in 2005, the Tories barely raised £2m. The only time that they've topped £10m since records began was in the period of the 2001 election, boosted by donors energised by William Hague's "Save the Pound" campaign and inflated hopes of a swift return to government.

Digging deeper, however, and the picture is even better for them and worse for Labour. Nearly half of the Labour donations were from just three people: party Treasurer (and Nottingham Forest chairman) Nigel Doughty and perennial Labour saviours Lord (David) Sainsbury and Ronnie Cohen.

The vast majority of the rest, nearly £2m, are donations from the trades unions.

It's true that the Tories are not lacking in big individual donors either, with property magnate David Rowland giving nearly three-quarters of a million, party co-Treasurer Stanley Fink (tipped recently to get a ministerial job) giving half a million, and another Lord Sainsbury (this time John) giving the same.

But where the Tories really power ahead is in the mid-level donations - 53 gifts of between £25,000 and £50,000 - not just raising a great wad of cash but also inoculating themselves against any future changes to party funding which restricts the amount individuals and companies can give.

As an aside, Labour bogeyman Lord Ashcroft seems to be content with masterminding the Tories' marginal seat operation. He gave only £80,000 through Bearwood Corporate Services in sponsorship during the latest quarter. Such is the bounty from other donations, they hardly need Ashcroft's money any more.

Perhaps Labour should call upon the help of a man who is used to spending millions of pounds to win vital contests.

But Sir Alex Ferguson will have to do a little better than the £6,000 he gave this last quarter if the red team is going to prevail in the upcoming election spending frenzy.