Further Reading
Member News
Ed Balls has received a £100,000 donation towards his campaign for the Labour leadership from novelist Ken Follett.
Follett, a best-selling author, was by far the biggest single donor to the Labour leadership contenders last month.
The Labour fundraiser who is married to former Stevenage Labour MP Barbera Follett, helped Balls towards raising £103,000 in July.
Despite this large single contribution the figures published today by the Electoral Commission show that front runner David Miliband still managed to rake in the most money overall, taking nine contributions totalling £138,835.12.
His single largest contribution came from Anthony Bailey, who donated £50,000.
David Miliband received a further boost to his campaign today when shadow justice secretary Jack Straw announced he was backing his bid.
Straw has a history of backing the winner, having run successful leadership campaigns for both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
David's brother Ed meanwhile raised £46,450 in July, the largest of which was a £28,000 donation from the GMB union.
He also received £2,000 from fellow Labour MP Emily Thornberry.
Shadow health secretary and Everton fan Andy Burnham secured a gift of £10,000 from Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher.
In a video message announcing his support for Burnham's bid, Carragher said he had known Burnham for two or three years and praised him for helping his charity.
And he said people in Liverpool would be very proud to have someone from their "neck of the woods" as Labour leader.
Diane Abbott did not register any donations for July.
The figures also show donations in the contest to be the Labour candidate for London Mayor.
Former MP Oona King raised £14,000 including £2,000 from historian Simon Schama.
Former Mayor Ken Livingstone received a total of £35,000, including a £10,000 donation from the Unite union.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd