A pro-Brexit hedge fund boss who has made hundreds of millions of pounds betting the pound would fall in value has donated £10,000 to Boris Johnson .
Crispin Odey, founder of Odey Asset Management, previously gave £870,000 to the Leave campaign and made £220million overnight as sterling slumped after the 2016 referendum result.
He gloated to the BBC the next day: “There’s that Italian expression – ‘Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca’ – the morning has gold in its mouth, and never has one felt so much that idea as this morning.”
Earlier this year, Mr Odey, who has a personal fortune of £750million, revealed he was again “shorting” sterling and predicting it would fall further.
Shorting involves borrowing currency or shares and selling immediately in the hope of buying them back later for less and pocketing the difference.
The pound this week dropped to its lowest price against the dollar in two years as Mr Johnson vows to quit the EU in three months with or without a deal.
Hundreds of thousands of Brits face shelling out more for foreign holidays this summer as a result of the fall.
Prices for food and fuel imported to the UK are also likely to rise.
Asked by the Mirror if the hedge fund was still betting against sterling, a spokesman refused to comment.
But Mr Odey said in January: “The pound is pretty mortally damaged.”
Mr Johnson raked in more than £600,000 in donations in three months while running for Tory leader, including £10,000 from Mr Odey on June 19.
A total of £1.7million has been given to the Tories, UKIP, Brexit groups and individual politicians, including £9,000 to Jacob Rees-Mogg , by Mr Odey and his companies.
A Channel 4 documentary claimed his funds were “gambling nearly £460million” against UK firms by “shorting” stock. The Mirror estimates the current figure to be closer to £350million.
