Martin Lewis makes series of 'random' donations to charities

Martin Lewis has made a series of donations to randomly selected charities.

Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com and a constant champion for consumer rights in the middle of a cost of living crisis, announced on Monday evening that he had donated £2,000 in total to charities.

Earlier in the day, he had promised on Twitter to make the donations as he approached two million followers.

He asked his followers to tweet him their chosen charities then he picked four.

Three of the charities were selected from random tweets, while the fourth was chosen by the person who became his two millionth follower.

Lewis tweeted: "Wow I'm nearing 2m followers. So to say thank you and promote small charities, I'll again donate - £500 to charity picked by my 2,000,000th follower - £500 to charity of randomly picked existing follower who replies".

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He later announced which charities had been chosen.

Twitter user 'Doug the Prop', who became Lewis's two millionth follower, chose the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, founded by former Scottish rugby player Doddle Weir, who suffers from motor neuron disease (MND). The charity has the goal of creating a world free from MND through research and support for sufferers.

As suggested by Twitter user Ivan Hollingsworth, Lewis donated £500 to the Children's Heart Unit Fund (CHUF), which supports children and families who receive treatment at the unit based at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Mr Hollingsworth tweeted to Lewis: "Already following and would love if you picked @CHUFOfficial as they support the Children’s Heart Unit that saved our son Seb."

Another £500 donation went to Wiltshire Air Ambulance, as suggested by follower Teresa Harris.

The fourth charity, suggested by Twitter user David Quigg, was Coffee4Craig, which supports homeless people in Manchester.

It began in 2013 and is named after Craig White, the brother of one of its founders, who died of a heroin overdose while homeless in Cardiff.

On Monday evening, Lewis confirmed he had made the donations.

He tweeted: "Just for the record, I've now made the payments to all four charities."

Lewis has campaigned for consumer rights for two decades, and was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours list in January.

He has spent most of the past year advising Britons on how to manage their rising energy bills.

In a blog post earlier this year, Lewis revealed he has given £20m to charity.