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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Aletha Adu

Boris Johnson should sack Ben Elliot as Tory co-chair 'immediately', Labour says

Boris Johnson should sack Ben Elliot as the Tory party's co-chair "immediately", Labour has said.

Mr Elliot is said to have spoken to diplomats from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain about a Tory donor's bid to form a group which will oversee the party's Middle East relations, the Financial Times reported.

But Mr Elliot did not reveal in the conversations that billionaire donor Mohammed Amersi is also a client of his co-owned "concierge" service company, Quintessentially.

Mr Amersi has previously told the Sunday Times he signed up to the "very top tier" of Mr Elliot's luxury service.

Labour Party Chair, Anneliese Dodds said "enough is enough. Boris Johnson must remove Ben Elliot immediately".

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Tory party co-chair Ben Elliot helped a Tory donor meet the Prince of Wales in exchange for payments of thousands of pounds to his company (Dave Benett)

Amersi had wanted to replace the Conservative-Middle East Council with a new group, Conservative Friends of the Middle East and North Africa, the newspaper said.

The Conservative party has not denied Elliot communicated with the diplomats or that he did not disclose his commercial relationship with Amersi.

It follows a long list of damaging reports surrounding Mr Elliot's bid to raise money for the Tory Party since Mr Johnson's election in June 2019.

Ms Dodds said the Prime Minister had allowed Mr Elliot to "blur the lines between private business activities and his public responsibilities".

Boris Johnson has enabled Ben Elliot, Tory party co-chair to 'blur lines' between his private business activities and public responsibilities, Labour said (PA)

"It is simply wrong for Ben Elliot to leverage his role in the governing party of the UK to hold secret discussions with foreign diplomats on behalf of a commercial client and without disclosing that private business relationship to them," Ms Dodds added.

"We urgently need to know what meetings took place, what was discussed and what impact that may have had on the development of UK Government policy."

Mr Elliot has also been blasted for establishing a secret club which allowed major Tory donors to gain direct access to the PM and Chancellor Rishi Sunak

Mohamed Amersi, a businessman and Tory donor, told the Financial Times the club was “like the very elite Quintessentially clients membership: one needs to cough up £250,000 per annum or be a friend of Ben”.

Following the report, the Tories said an advisory board meets occasionally and receives political updates.

Ms Dodds is pushing for more information to be put into the public domain about the Conservative party's secret 'Advisory Board' and who benefited from it.

The co-chairman of the Conservative Party has said Government policy “is in no way influenced by the donations the party receives – they are entirely separate” amid fresh concerns over “sleaze” from Labour.

Ms Dodds is pushing for more information to be put into the public domain about the purpose of the Tory party's secret 'Advisor Board' (Getty Images)

Amanda Milling hit back at criticisms made by Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds, who has called on the Tories to publish a list of ministers who have met major party donors through a secretive club.

Further claims made in the Sunday Times revealed Mr Elliot – the Duchess of Cornwall’s nephew – helped Mr Amersi meet the Prince of Wales in exchange for payments of thousands of pounds to his company.

A spokesman for Elliot said: “Mr Elliot assisted Mr Amersi in meeting the Prince of Wales because he wanted to support the prince’s charitable work, and Mr Elliot is proud that led to large donations from Mr Amersi to good causes. This was entirely about helping to raise money for charity."

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