ANDREW Charalambous has defended his decision to donate more than £142,000 to the Conservatives to boost his campaign.

The prospective parliamentary Tory candidate for Edmonton has come under fire for paying his party £142,319.80 for "advertisting, printing and other campaigning".

Andy Love, the seat's Labour incumbent, said: "As the Ashcroft affair has highlighted, the issue of bankrolling a political party goes to the very heart of our democracy.

“The £10,000 I received last year for non-political communication with my constituents pales into insignificance compared to this massive donation.

"To put it in perspective, it is around four times the amount that every other candidate in Edmonton combined will spend at the General Election.”

The 38-year-old entrepreneur, who poured £1million into the world's first ever "eco-disco" in 2008, claims he began his career with only £400 in 1992.

He went on to make millions from the property market, much of which he invested into an "ethical" social housing project, whereby tenants are charged no administration fees or deposits.

He is now one of the Conservative Party's top individual donors.

Mr Charalambous stressed the donation was to assist his party in the election.

He said: "This money was a donation to my party, not myself.

"It was spent on campaigning to save our NHS services and help Edmonton break free from the neglect of the last 13 years.

"People should remember the sitting MP is entitled to thousands of pounds of tax payers money via a 'communication allowance' to spread propaganda."