Ben Elliot is co-founder of Quintessentially, a luxury concierge company that has boasted of how it helped wealthy Russians in London find properties, advise on the best schools and staff such as nannies
–
The Labour party has written to prime minister Boris Johnson calling on him to sack Ben Elliot as co-chair of the Conservatives for securing nearly £2mn of Russia-linked donations for the party while also courting Russian oligarchs as clients.
Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s chair, pointed out that the Tory party has [raised £1.96mn](https://archive.ph/mjWgs) from donors with links to Russia since Elliot was appointed in July 2019.
The British entrepreneur and nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall is one of the most well-connected figures in London. He is co-founder of [Quintessentially, a luxury concierge company](https://archive.ph/mjWgs) that launched its Russia office in 2006, and has expanded it to roughly 50 employees at its base in Moscow.
The concierge group removed some content related to its Russian operations from its global website this week after Vladimir Putin, the country’s president, launched his invasion of Ukraine.
However, it has not taken down its separate Russian-language site with the slogan: “Access the inaccessible. Achieve the impossible.”
It also references a corporate contract that [Quintessentially](https://archive.ph/1izir) has held with Gazprombank, Russia’s third-largest bank by assets, which was not included in the list of banks to be excluded from the Swift messaging system.
Quintessentially designed an app for “premium customers” of Gazprombank that allows them to access its services anytime, according to its website.
Quintessentially has boasted of how [it helped wealthy Russians in London find properties,](https://archive.ph/H6kvk) advise on the best schools and staff such as nannies. One former staffer said the group often helped its Russian clients hold lavish parties.
It has a tiered membership, including an “elite” membership that costs about $20,000 a year, and its “Quintessence” membership, which is by invitation only and costs roughly $40,000 a year.
Two industry sources have told the Financial Times that [Roman Abramovich](https://archive.ph/nL7rQ), the oligarch who this week put Chelsea Football Club for sale, has been a client of Quintessentially.
One person close to the company said Quintessentially had tailored its membership fees according to the requirements of its wealthy clients.
Quintessentially said: “The group continues to actively monitor its member base and corporate clients to ensure that it is not servicing any individual or corporate body that is on the sanctions lists that have been issued by the UK, EU and US governments. Moreover, it can confirm that it definitively is not engaged with anyone on those lists.”
Elliot told the Gentleman’s Journal in 2013 that “we added a dedicated Russian team to our London offices due to the influx in Russian-speaking clients coming into London, so we’re still doing very well within the Russian market”.
In his role as Conservative co-chair he set up an “[advisory board](https://archive.ph/4ze9n)” of generous party donors, some of whom have links to Putin’s regime. They include Lubov Chernukhin, a former banker who is wife of Vladimir Chernukhin, former deputy finance minister under Putin. Chernukhin has given £1.94mn to the Conservative party since 2005.
The Conservative party did not respond to a request for comment.
Dodds said there were serious questions about a “cash for access culture” at the heart of government. “You cannot tell the British people that you are serious about tackling Russian dirty money and influence and also retain Mr Elliot as co-chair of your party.”
After Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last week Johnson’s spokesperson said Putin and his oligarchs should be treated like “pariahs on the world stage” with “no engagement with them”.
Last September, the UK lobbying regulator warned Elliot to draw a clearer line between his private interests and public duties, warning that he risked falling foul of the industry’s rules.
Harry Rich, who heads the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, advised Elliot: “To be cautious about the possibility of engaging in consultant lobbying activity (perhaps unintentionally) by not making a clear enough distinction between his role as a director of Quintessentially and his other activities connected to government.”
*Jim Pickard, Tabby Kinder and Daniel Thomas in London*
*Additional reporting by Arash Massoudi*
Yeah they’re not gonna get rid of that slimy bastard any time soon. Raises a fortune, knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and is Camilla’s nephew.
Guardian live blog today. 10:54am:
>[Conservative fundraiser and co-chair Ben Elliot should be sacked, says Starmer](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/mar/04/boris-johnson-tories-labour-ukraine-russia-latest-politics-live-news?page=with:block-6221ef9c8f084d514683941f#block-6221ef9c8f084d514683941f)
>
>Keir Starmer called for Conservative fundraiser and co-chair Ben Elliot to be sacked for his role in links between the Tories and Russian money.
>
>Speaking during a visit to Birmingham Erdington following his party’s byelection success, the Labour leader, said there was “growing concern” about the links between the Conservative Party and Russian money.
>
>He said:
>
>**”***Ben Elliot is at the heart of that. We need to strip Russian money away from our politics, not to allow it to influence our politics.*
>
>*There will always be this danger if the Conservative government doesn’t go really hard on this that people will say it must be because you are reliant on Russian money that you are not going more quickly.*
>
>*So, it’s in everybody’s best interests that Ben Elliot steps back from his role – and I think he should actually be sacked from it.*
–
and:
>[Mirror: Keir Starmer demands Tories sack co-chairman whose firm boasted of links to ‘Russian elite’](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-demands-tories-sack-26384891)
>
>Labour’s leader hit out after a firm run by Ben Elliot, the co-chairman of the Conservative Party, said it provided ‘luxury lifestyle management services to Russia’s elite’
So he’s going to get a knighthood instead and told to shut up?
He is a valuable asset to the Tories if he can schmooze those with money and power. They are not going to let him go if it means losing out on donations, trips and gifts from the rich and powerful. At best, they will temporarily suspend services with him, at least until the heat dies down, before bringing him back in to help get more donations in time for the next election.
I am wondering who is the worst Johnson or Putin and Johnson is winning.
6 comments
Ben Elliot is co-founder of Quintessentially, a luxury concierge company that has boasted of how it helped wealthy Russians in London find properties, advise on the best schools and staff such as nannies
–
The Labour party has written to prime minister Boris Johnson calling on him to sack Ben Elliot as co-chair of the Conservatives for securing nearly £2mn of Russia-linked donations for the party while also courting Russian oligarchs as clients.
Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s chair, pointed out that the Tory party has [raised £1.96mn](https://archive.ph/mjWgs) from donors with links to Russia since Elliot was appointed in July 2019.
The British entrepreneur and nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall is one of the most well-connected figures in London. He is co-founder of [Quintessentially, a luxury concierge company](https://archive.ph/mjWgs) that launched its Russia office in 2006, and has expanded it to roughly 50 employees at its base in Moscow.
The concierge group removed some content related to its Russian operations from its global website this week after Vladimir Putin, the country’s president, launched his invasion of Ukraine.
However, it has not taken down its separate Russian-language site with the slogan: “Access the inaccessible. Achieve the impossible.”
It also references a corporate contract that [Quintessentially](https://archive.ph/1izir) has held with Gazprombank, Russia’s third-largest bank by assets, which was not included in the list of banks to be excluded from the Swift messaging system.
Quintessentially designed an app for “premium customers” of Gazprombank that allows them to access its services anytime, according to its website.
Quintessentially has boasted of how [it helped wealthy Russians in London find properties,](https://archive.ph/H6kvk) advise on the best schools and staff such as nannies. One former staffer said the group often helped its Russian clients hold lavish parties.
It has a tiered membership, including an “elite” membership that costs about $20,000 a year, and its “Quintessence” membership, which is by invitation only and costs roughly $40,000 a year.
Two industry sources have told the Financial Times that [Roman Abramovich](https://archive.ph/nL7rQ), the oligarch who this week put Chelsea Football Club for sale, has been a client of Quintessentially.
One person close to the company said Quintessentially had tailored its membership fees according to the requirements of its wealthy clients.
Quintessentially said: “The group continues to actively monitor its member base and corporate clients to ensure that it is not servicing any individual or corporate body that is on the sanctions lists that have been issued by the UK, EU and US governments. Moreover, it can confirm that it definitively is not engaged with anyone on those lists.”
Elliot told the Gentleman’s Journal in 2013 that “we added a dedicated Russian team to our London offices due to the influx in Russian-speaking clients coming into London, so we’re still doing very well within the Russian market”.
In his role as Conservative co-chair he set up an “[advisory board](https://archive.ph/4ze9n)” of generous party donors, some of whom have links to Putin’s regime. They include Lubov Chernukhin, a former banker who is wife of Vladimir Chernukhin, former deputy finance minister under Putin. Chernukhin has given £1.94mn to the Conservative party since 2005.
The Conservative party did not respond to a request for comment.
Dodds said there were serious questions about a “cash for access culture” at the heart of government. “You cannot tell the British people that you are serious about tackling Russian dirty money and influence and also retain Mr Elliot as co-chair of your party.”
After Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last week Johnson’s spokesperson said Putin and his oligarchs should be treated like “pariahs on the world stage” with “no engagement with them”.
Last September, the UK lobbying regulator warned Elliot to draw a clearer line between his private interests and public duties, warning that he risked falling foul of the industry’s rules.
Harry Rich, who heads the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, advised Elliot: “To be cautious about the possibility of engaging in consultant lobbying activity (perhaps unintentionally) by not making a clear enough distinction between his role as a director of Quintessentially and his other activities connected to government.”
*Jim Pickard, Tabby Kinder and Daniel Thomas in London*
*Additional reporting by Arash Massoudi*
Yeah they’re not gonna get rid of that slimy bastard any time soon. Raises a fortune, knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and is Camilla’s nephew.
Guardian live blog today. 10:54am:
>[Conservative fundraiser and co-chair Ben Elliot should be sacked, says Starmer](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/mar/04/boris-johnson-tories-labour-ukraine-russia-latest-politics-live-news?page=with:block-6221ef9c8f084d514683941f#block-6221ef9c8f084d514683941f)
>
>Keir Starmer called for Conservative fundraiser and co-chair Ben Elliot to be sacked for his role in links between the Tories and Russian money.
>
>Speaking during a visit to Birmingham Erdington following his party’s byelection success, the Labour leader, said there was “growing concern” about the links between the Conservative Party and Russian money.
>
>He said:
>
>**”***Ben Elliot is at the heart of that. We need to strip Russian money away from our politics, not to allow it to influence our politics.*
>
>*There will always be this danger if the Conservative government doesn’t go really hard on this that people will say it must be because you are reliant on Russian money that you are not going more quickly.*
>
>*So, it’s in everybody’s best interests that Ben Elliot steps back from his role – and I think he should actually be sacked from it.*
–
and:
>[Mirror: Keir Starmer demands Tories sack co-chairman whose firm boasted of links to ‘Russian elite’](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/keir-starmer-demands-tories-sack-26384891)
>
>Labour’s leader hit out after a firm run by Ben Elliot, the co-chairman of the Conservative Party, said it provided ‘luxury lifestyle management services to Russia’s elite’
So he’s going to get a knighthood instead and told to shut up?
He is a valuable asset to the Tories if he can schmooze those with money and power. They are not going to let him go if it means losing out on donations, trips and gifts from the rich and powerful. At best, they will temporarily suspend services with him, at least until the heat dies down, before bringing him back in to help get more donations in time for the next election.
I am wondering who is the worst Johnson or Putin and Johnson is winning.