Reform UK’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, accepted a £1,400 stay at the French Riviera home of Lubov Chernukhin, a Conservative donor and the wife of Russia’s former deputy finance minister, new filings show.
Tice enjoyed accommodation valued at £1,000 and meals worth £400 between 4 and 6 August at the Chernukhins’ property on the Mediterranean coast, listing the purpose as “discussing gas power in the UK”, according to the register of MPs’ interests.
The MP for Boston and Skegness, who led Reform before Nigel Farage, is also the party’s energy spokesperson and a critic of the drive for net zero.
Chernukhin is a businesswoman who has given more than £2m to the Conservatives since 2014, including famously bidding for a tennis session with Boris Johnson at a party auction.
She is a British citizen and former banker who has been under scrutiny over her links to offshore wealth and her husband’s former membership of Vladimir Putin’s government until he was sacked in 2004. Chernukhin has previously stressed that she and her husband have no links to Putin’s regime and that she has condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine.
According to Companies House, the couple set up a new company called Satellite Energy Systems in January of this year, with Chernukhin, who is resident in the UK, listed as a director and her husband, Vladimir Chernukhin, who is resident in Italy, as the owner. On LinkedIn, the company describes its purpose as: “We provide net zero energy where it is needed. We are in our customer’s orbit.”
Labour said Tice’s decision to accept the hospitality from Chernukhin was “troubling” and questioned why the Reform deputy leader was listening to “vested foreign interests” on the subject of UK gas power.
Asked why he accepted the hospitality, Tice told the Guardian: “We’ve got a shortage of electricity in this country, and we face the risk of rationing and blackouts and what we need is more gas power plants and Lubov is interested in developing such a thing and wanted to talk to me about it.”
He said if people wanted to invest in the UK energy system with reliable and cost-effective generation, creating jobs in the process, “then I’m going to push that and promote that as much as I can”.
He added: “Frankly, my diary is so busy here that it’s the ability to do that, to spend some hours talking about it … I don’t have meetings in the UK more than an hour and a quarter with anybody. So the ability in recess is just to take a bit of time out.”
Asked about Labour’s criticism, Tice said Vladmir Chernukhin was forced to leave Russia 20 years ago and that “frankly, we probably should have listened and learned from him some time previously”. He also highlighted that the Chernukhins are British citizens.
“If Labour criticise it, I might just remind them of that when we face higher energy bills and rationing because we haven’t got enough electricity in this country,” he said.
Tice said he was not expecting Lubov Chernukhin to start donating to Reform as she was a Conservative, and added: “This is about getting people to invest money in the UK as opposed to invest elsewhere.”
A spokesperson for Lubov Chernukhin said: “Luba is a British businesswoman, philanthropist and investor focused on promoting inward investment, local economic growth and charitable initiatives both in the UK and abroad. As a result, she has multiple business interests and meets with a range of stakeholders. Luba remains a committed Conservative supporter and does not influence policy.”
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