Ministry of Sound founder James Palumbo gives Liberal Democrats £65,000 Mandrake learns that the businessman, who became Lord Palumbo of Southwark earlier this year after being nominated for a peerage by the Lib Dems, has handed Nick Clegg's party £65,000 in the past three months. New figures disclose that James, who is estranged from his father, Lord Palumbo, the Conservative peer and former chairman of the Arts Council, donated £50,000 to the Lib Dems centrally. He gave a further £10,000 to the Westmorland and Lonsdale local party of Tim Farron, the party's president, and £5,500 to the Bermondsey and Old Southwark local party of Simon Hughes, the deputy leader, whose constituency includes Palumbo's nightclub. Accounts show that Palumbo, 50, lent himself £118,000 from the Ministry of Sound Group Ltd. The debt was still outstanding as of December 31, 2011. That year, he gave £258,000 to the Lib Dems through his company. He paid himself £417,000, compared with £563,000 in 2010. In January 2011, he speculated on the gold market, purchasing £1 million of "gold sovereigns." Palumbo was handed his peerage just two days after a £10,000 donation to the local party of Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem Cabinet minister, was declared. Palumbo is not just a fan of the Lib Dems, however. He lent Lord Mandelson, the former Labour Cabinet minister, a chauffeur-driven car during the 1997 election campaign.