Tory leader Kemi Badenoch gets financial boost as video game tycoon donates £2million to Conservative Party
A British video game tycoon has given a £2million donation to the Tory party.
The money from Jeremy Elliott, who is better known as Jez San, will give a huge boost to Kemi Badenoch’s leadership, just days before challenging local elections.
I can disclose that Mr San, who founded Argonaut Software in his bedroom as a teenager during the early 1980s computer boom, gave £1million in February.
He then gave a second surprise £1million earlier this month. He is the biggest donor to Tory funds since Mrs Badenoch became party leader in November.
Mr San used to be a Labour supporter, but turned against Keir Starmer after the record £40billion tax-raising Autumn Budget.
His Argonaut company produced the Harry Potter, Alien Resurrection and Star Fox hit console games. It was also instrumental in developing early 3D graphics technologies, including the SuperFX chip used by Nintendo.
Mr San, 59, and his wife Natasha had dinner with Mrs Badenoch and her husband Hamish, who works in the City. They bonded over the Tory leader’s pledge to cut regulation, taxes and to try to ensure Britain develops maximum potential from AI.
Computer games have been kind to Mr San. In 2022 he bought Palazzo di Vista, a £40million mansion in Los Angeles where his neighbours include Jennifer Aniston, Beyonce and Elon Musk. He’s also a major donor to Great Ormond Street children’s hospital.
Video game tycoon Jez San's £2million donation will give a huge boost to Kemi Badenoch’s leadership
Mr San used to be a Labour supporter, but turned against Keir Starmer after the record £40billion tax-raising Autumn Budget (pictured in 2002)
Like most of his competitors, Mr San was an early computer user. He was 12 when his father brought back from the US a TRS-80, a forerunner of today’s PCs. But his parents and teachers were far from encouraging. In a rare interview, he said: ‘Everyone thought it was a terrible influence. I was staying up all night, every night.
‘It’s a while since I’ve seen the sunrise after working all night, but at school it happened all the time. I was hacking before it was made illegal, but never since.’ He was only 16 when the money started to roll in. ‘Some friends and I wrote a game called Skyline Attack,’ he says. ‘My share of the profits bought a second-hand Volkswagen Scirocco GTi. Computers have given me a great new car about every 18 months since.’
Starting from a Saturday job at a computer shop in Edgware, north-west London, less than a mile from Argonaut’s offices, he now employs hundreds globally.
Mrs Badenoch told me: ‘I was delighted to meet Jez San, who is one of our great entrepreneurs and innovators. His donations are an important statement of support in the Conservative Party to lead Britain out of the current economic malaise.’ A source close to Mr San told me: ‘Jez does not believe you can tax your way to growth. He has huge concerns over Labour’s tax-heavy approach, which is driving top talent and investors abroad.
‘He will offer policy advice to the Tories to help champion high-growth sectors and reward homegrown innovation. He believes you have to reward risk takers.’
The revelation of the donations comes at the end of a strong week for Mrs Badenoch who had her best performance at the despatch box at Prime Minister’s Questions this week when she mocked Sir Keir’s U-turn on the definition of woman in the aftermath of the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court.
