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With a general election talked about for months, political parties are likely to have been planning to go to the polls for the best part of this year.

Who is providing the cash to fund their campaigns? Sky News takes a look:

CONSERVATIVES

The art gallery chief

Israeli-born Ehud Sheleg, the Conservative Party treasurer, has given more than £1m to the Tories already this year.

The art management businessman, also known as Udi, was given a knighthood in former prime minister Theresa May's resignation honours list.

He is a director of the Halcyon Gallery in Mayfair, which specialises in modern and contemporary art.

The Brexiteer digger tycoon

Anthony Bamford has used his JCB company to hand the Tories more than £900,000 this year.

He supported Brexit and donated to the Vote Leave campaign before the 2016 EU referendum.

JCB received a multi-million pound fine for violating EU antitrust law in 2000.

Lord Bamford is a key supporter of Boris Johnson and made a series of personal donations to the now prime minister earlier this year.

He also allowed him the use of JCB headquarters to make a major speech in January, in which Mr Johnson attacked Mrs May's Brexit strategy.

Lord Bamford was given a life peerage by former prime minister David Cameron in 2013.

The theatre producer

John Gore handed the Conservatives £1m in the first few days of the general election campaign.

The theatre producer made his fortune from musicals such as Hamilton, Wicked, Chicago and School of Rock, which have won him an Olivier, an Emmy and 13 Tony awards.

He told the Sunday Times in May: "I am a British citizen with an outside eye. It's not unlike being a director.

"I can see this show is really going wrong - that it's going to crash. I hope I can do something to get it back into shape and help it flourish."

The wife of a former Russian minister

Lubov Chernukhin has given nearly £450,000 to the Tories this year.

She is the wife of former Russian deputy finance minister Vladimir Chernukhin, who served in Vladimir Putin's first presidential term in office between 2000 and 2002 before being appointed chairman of a state-owned bank.

However, he is said to have later fallen out of favour with the Russian president for his loyalty to Mikhail Kasyanov, a critic of Mr Putin, and been dismissed from his role, leading the couple to settle in Britain.

The Conservatives have previously been criticised for accepting money from Mrs Chernukhin, especially in the wake of the Salisbury poisonings in March 2018.

However, the Tories defended taking the cash and stressed as a British citizen Mrs Chernukhin "has the right to exercise her democratic rights and donate to a political party".

She once successfully bid £160,000 at a Tory fundraiser to play tennis with David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

The City grandee

Long-time Tory donor Michael Spencer, known as a City grandee, has gifted more than half-a-million pounds to the party this year through his IPGL Ltd company.

A former Conservative Party treasurer, Mr Spencer was reportedly recommended for a peerage by Mr Cameron in his resignation honours list, but his nomination was said to have been blocked.

Mr Spencer's firm ICAP was fined by regulators after being implicated in the Libor-rigging scandal, although the billionaire later won a court challenge against action by the European Commission.

The property developer who hosted David Cameron's birthday bash

Tony Gallagher's Countrywide Developments firm gave the Tories £500,000 on the first day of the official general election campaign.

The property developer hosted ex-prime minister David Cameron's 50th birthday party at his Oxfordshire mansion in 2016.

The wife of an arms deal fixer

Rosemary Said, the wife of Syrian-born billionaire Wafic Said, has donated more than £180,000 to the Conservative Party this year under the name Ann R Said.

The donations drew scrutiny due to Mr Said's role in a multi-billion pound deal with Saudi Arabia in the 1980s.

The deal was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office, but the probe was later halted following an intervention by former prime minister Tony Blair.

Mrs Said, a UK citizen, is said to be wealthy in her own right, while her father was formerly a donor to the Conservatives.

Her husband, who is not a British resident, previously donated to the Tories but is no longer allowed to give the party cash after foreign donations were outlawed.

LABOUR

The unions

Labour is largely funded by trade unions, with GMB, Unison, Unite and USDAW all having given six-figure sums to the party this year.

The largest donations came from GMB, who donated more than £1m, and Unison, who donated more than £950,000.

Unite general-secretary Len McCluskey has been one of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's biggest cheerleaders.

He is also viewed to be influential on Labour policy, especially on Brexit.

Mr McCluskey recently criticised a motion - passed at Labour's conference - to "maintain and extend free movement rights" for EU citizens, as not a "sensible approach".

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

The chocolatier's trust

The largest funder to the Lib Dems this year has been the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, which has given the party close to £150,000.

The trust was founded in the early 1900s by philanthropist Quaker and Liberal businessman Joseph Rowntree.

In 1883, he took over ownership of his brother's chocolate factory, Rowntree's, which is now best known for producing Fruit Pastilles.

The honorary Russian

Swedish billionaire Frederik Paulsen Jr has helped bankroll the Lib Dems through his drug firm, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, which has given £100,000 to the party this year.

In 2008 he was given the Order of Friendship by Russian President Vladimir Putin for taking part in a Russian deep-sea expedition to the floor of the Arctic Ocean at the North Pole.

Mr Paulsen is also Russia's honorary consul in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he lives.

The former Goldman Sachs banker

Andrew Dixon, known as an "angel investor" due to his involvement in start-ups, has given £60,000 to the Lib Dems this year.

He set up his ARC InterCapital investment business in 2000 following stints at banks Societe Generale and Goldman Sachs.

Mr Dixon is the founder of the Liberal Democrats Business and Entrepreneurs Network.

BREXIT PARTY

The former Tory donor

Jeremy Hosking, who has previously donated large sums to the Conservatives, has given close to £250,000 to the Brexit Party this year.

The City financier gave the cash to Nigel Farage's party while Mrs May was prime minister.

He told the Daily Telegraph in May: "I have given £200,000, and urge all who wish to see a proper Conservative Party in Britain to support the Brexit Party as much as they can.

"If the Conservatives insist on diluting Brexit, what hope is there on other issues where a robust Conservative position needs to be advocated?"

The hedge fund boss and Boris-backer:

Jonathan Wood, who set up the SRM Global hedge fund, has handed more than £75,000 to the Brexit Party this year.

He also gave £25,000 to Mr Johnson in May, ahead of his campaign to be elected Conservative leader.

GREEN PARTY:

The campaigner

Roger Manser is a former journalist and founding editor of Steel Business Briefing.

He has donated £35,000 to the Green Party this year.

On his website, named "KestrelMan", Mr Manser set out his "V-growth" to "variable growth" beliefs.

"V-growth distinguishes between those industrial sectors, which should grow and those that need to decline to meet the goals of climate change and social justice," his website says.

"Whilst the rates of economic growth, as traditionally measured by GDP, have thankfully been declining in most parts of the world over the last 10 or more years, most governments still claim growth is necessary for the equitable and just society we need.

"Roger believes it is now time to replace this trickle down myth."

SINN FEIN:

The 'largest-ever donation' to a Northern Ireland party

Earlier this year, Sinn Fein received what was reported as the largest-ever known donation to a Northern Ireland political party.

William E. Hampton, a former motor mechanic and driver, left £1.5m to Sinn Fein following his death.

The party's leader Michelle O'Neill dismissed calls for the donation to be investigated.

"I understand it's a juicy story but there's nothing to see here," she said.

"A lot of people are trying to make something out of a story that isn't there."

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