Hedge fund manager Crispin Odey has dismissed as “crap” suggestions that he donated to Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign in order to profit from a possible no-deal Brexit triggered by the prime minister.
Mr Odey, the founder of London-based Odey Asset Management, spoke to the Financial Times after an urgent question in the House of Commons on Monday. John McDonnell, Labour’s shadow chancellor, asked whether there was a conflict of interest for Mr Johnson in hedge funds betting on the UK leaving the EU without a deal and donating to his leadership campaign and the Conservative party.
Mr Odey donated £10,000 to Mr Johnson’s leadership campaign in June. He has been betting against the pound, although he said his positions had switched between bets on rising and falling prices since the 2016 Brexit referendum. Mr Odey was named by a Labour MP in the Commons on Monday for the bets he had taken against some UK stocks.
“They want to try and get at Boris. It doesn’t make any financial sense,” Mr Odey said.
“It’s crap, it really is,” he said. “You have to understand nothing about financial markets to believe you hold a position for three years.”
Rumours about hedge fund influence on Mr Johnson have been swirling in recent days. Philip Hammond, the former UK chancellor who is now an independent MP, said at the weekend that some hedge funds backing Mr Johnson were positioned for a no-deal Brexit and would be “happy to see scant progress towards a deal”.
Nicholas Macpherson, former Treasury permanent secretary, tweeted his support: “Mr Hammond is right to question the political connections of some of the hedge funds with a financial interest in no deal. They are shorting the pound and the country, with the British people the main loser.”
Mr Odey said critics were trying to “create the illusion that Boris gets money from dubious places [and from people] who are unpatriotic who want to see the country go down”.
He also denied having influence over, or trying to influence, Mr Johnson. “Does anyone have any influence on Boris? If you meet anyone who has any influence on Boris I’d like to meet them,” he added.
“My political views are entirely different to the way I trade anything,” Mr Odey said. “That’s why I don’t care very much what they say.”
Most commentators agree that the pound would fall sharply in the event of a no-deal Brexit, which would benefit Mr Odey’s portfolio. On the flipside, government bonds have so far tended to rally during periods of uncertainty, for instance at the time of the 2016 referendum, a move that would hit Mr Odey’s fund.
An article by FT Alphaville in September also poured cold water on the idea that hedge funds had used donations to influence the outcome of Brexit and stood to profit from bets against UK stocks.
A Treasury minister on Monday described Labour’s comments as “outlandish” and dismissed the idea of there being a conflict of interest.
“It’s a totally spurious story and it doesn’t have any legs,” Mr Odey said. “It’s a legless story that has somehow run away.”
“Everyone is so determined not to imagine what the new Jerusalem [after Brexit] will be like,” he added. “Boris will be a great prime minister in that new world.”
