His donation of video conferencing equipment and technical support for the party’s headquarters is to appear in accounts published this week by the Electoral Commission.
Edmonds, whose wealth has been estimated at £75m, said he originally offered the gift to the Conservative party but has now withdrawn this offer. He was motivated not by political affiliation but by a desire to boost awareness of the potential of video conferencing.
The founder of the Video Media Company, which has an annual turnover of £6m, he is also chairman of the Renewable Energy Foundation. He argues that video conferencing will help Britain to comply with the Kyoto climate change treaty by cutting the amount of business travel.
“I approached the Tory party last July and Liam Fox (joint chairman of the party) came to look at the system at my Kensington headquarters,” he said.
“Although he was interested, after eight months the Tories were still procrastinating. Then very recently they came back again, but declined to pay the small cost of training their staff and politicians to use it, saying they needed the money for leaflets. They were not serious.”
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In contrast, Edmonds says a meeting at a charity event with Peter Hain, leader of the Commons, led swiftly to an agreement. He has now installed the equipment in 12 of Labour’s regional offices and hopes to supply Tony Blair.
Much of the celebrity support that helped to propel Labour to power in 1997 has melted away and, despite his absence from the television screen, Edmonds would represent a catch. He says he has been asked by more than one party to contest a parliamentary seat in constituencies near his mansion in Devon, but has declined.
Since his departure from the BBC1 show Noel’s House Party, Edmonds has replaced the Princess Royal as president of the British Horse Society and has been appointed a deputy lord lieutenant of Devon. He has opposed wind farm developments close to his Devon home and says onshore schemes are “damaging to rural areas and vulnerable rural populations”.
Lord Levy, Labour’s chief fundraiser, recently signalled that the party would need to trim back its general election funding target from £19m to £15m because donations from unions have fallen short.
However, it is understood that Christopher Ondaatje, a key donor, has made a new gift of £500,000, although it may not be disclosed in this round of accounts from the Electoral Commission.