The Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Lord David Sainsbury, donated more than £8 million to groups campaigning for a Remain vote in the EU referendum, it has emerged.

Sainsbury was a patron to nine different pro-Remain groups, giving them £4.2 million in donations under four aliases. He also gave Labour and the Liberal Democrats, which both campaigned for a Remain vote, £2,150,000 and £2,125,000 respectively.

He told Varsity, “During the last two years I have helped put together the Stronger In Europe Campaign, and have provided them with funds. I have also made donations to the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, and a number of other registered bodies. I did so because I believe strongly that coming out of Europe will be damaging to our economy and society, and dangerously so if we come out of the Common Market.

“I am proud of what the Stronger In Europe Campaign did in explaining honestly and clearly the benefits we get from being in Europe and the damage from coming out.

“I am sorry that we failed to convince the British people as I believe the dangers of Brexit are very real, and I hope that thoughtful and careful leadership by the new Prime Minister will mean that my worst fears are not realised.”

His preference for the UK to remain a member of the European Union puts him in line with the views of the Cambridge student body, 85 per cent of whom said they supported a Remain vote, according to a poll conducted by Varsity in June.

However, his decision to donate to the Liberal Democrats might jeopardise his membership of the Labour Party, for which he sits in the House of Lords. Under Labour Party rules, any member who donates to a rival party can have their membership suspended.

Sainsbury has been Chancellor of the University since 2011. Between 1964 and 1996 he was chairman of the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain, before leaving for a career in politics as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation.

His political donations have previously caused some controversy. Tony Blair’s decision to make him a life peer in 1997 came after a number of large donations from Sainsbury to the Labour Party. He continued to make large donations throughout his time in Blair’s administration, amounting to £4,016,000 between 2002 and 2005 alone.

Since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party in September of last year, however, Sainsbury, like many other major donors, has largely refrained from donating to the party, preferring to fund the centrist group Progress, which opposes Corbyn’s leadership from within the party. He has also supported individual centrist Labour politicians such as Tristram Hunt, whom he gave £20,000 in December 2015.