WIFE OF EX-PUTIN CRONY’S £135,000 DINNER WITH PM
She won auction at Tory fund-raiser to have intimate supper with May and SIX female Cabinet members at royals’ favourite hotel
Theresa May and six female Cabinet members had a night out with the wife of a former Vladimir Putin ally who had donated £135,000 at a Tory fundraiser. Lubov Chernukhin was entertained by the Prime Minister at the five- star Goring Hotel in Belgravia on Monday evening.
It is understood the banker won the dinner as an auction prize at the Conservative Party’s Black and White ball earlier this year. The £135,000 bid takes Mrs Chernukhin’s donations to the Tories over the past seven years past the £1million mark.
The party has insisted that Mrs Chernukhin, now a British citizen, is not a ‘Putin crony’. But the money will raise fresh questions about the Tories’ links to Russia just a year after the Salisbury spy poisoning. Five years ago, David Cameron faced questions after Mrs Chernukhin successfully bid £160,000 at a party fundraising dinner to play tennis against him
and Boris Johnson. The former PM was accused of hypocrisy over the donation, which came at a time when he was pushing for tougher Western sanctions against Moscow in response to its annexation of Crimea and the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Today’s revelations are likely to lead to similar accusations against Mrs May, who has pledged to get tough on the issue of Russian money and influence in the UK in the wake of last year’s nerve agent attack in Salisbury.
The PM warned at that time that it could no longer be ‘business as usual’ with Russia.
Security minister Ben Wallace went further, pledging a wideranging crackdown on Russian money in London. He said oligarchs could be hit with ‘unexplained wealth orders’ by the courts if they were unable to demonstrate the source of their assets. It was part of a strategy of making life uncomfortable for them in London.
Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, revealed news of Monday night’s dinner by posting a photograph on Instagram of Mrs May, several of her female ministers and a group of mystery women at the Goring, which is near Buckingham Palace.
The picture includes Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom, Leader of the Lords, Baroness Evans, Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley and immigration minister Caroline Nokes. Miss Truss, who has become known for her regular and eye-catchafter ing updates on social media, wrote the caption: ‘And it’s ladies night, cabinet and friends, girlpower.’
Downing Street and the Conservative Party yesterday refused to comment on the identities of the women beside Mrs May in the picture, claiming it was a private event.
But the Daily Mail discovered that it was a dinner thrown for Mrs Chernukhin and her friends she successfully bid for the prize at the ball.
They were served a threecourse meal of asparagus, beef Wellington and Eton mess.
A source said: ‘It was bit like Cabinet at the start, very polite, but then a fair amount of wine was drunk and then it became a very relaxed and talkative dinner.’
The guests were also thought to include Lady Nuttall, a fashion designer who had an affair with a cousin of the Queen in the Bahamas, and Lucy HydeDunn, a vet who is the wife of the head of the Dragon School in Oxford.
Louise Petano-Heathcote, who is standing for the Tories in local elections in Oxford on Thursday, is thought to be another of the women in the photograph. The wife of the artist Peregrine Heathcote commented on Instagram: ‘Fabulous women, wonderful evening.’
Electoral Commission records show Mrs Chernukhin was declared an ‘ impermissible donor’ in 2012 when she attempted to give £10,000 to the Tories. Since then, however, she has made donations to the party worth more than £903,000, which have all been accepted, including £389,000 last year.
The £135,000 donation for the auction prize has yet to be declared on the Electoral Commission website. At last year’s Black and White Ball Mrs Chernukhin won two more auctions – £20,000 to dine with Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson and £30,000 to dine with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. Earlier this year, Mrs Chernukhin donated £9,500 to the war chest of Tory chairman Brandon Lewis.
It was not known whether the match involving Mr Cameron and Mr Johnson ever went ahead, but last March – following the spy poisoning – Mr Johnson finally admitted it had. He said: ‘It’s very important that we do not allow a miasma of suspicion about all Russians in London – and indeed all rich Russians in London – to be created.’
Mrs May faced criticism last summer after it emerged she had accepted another six-figure donation from Mrs Chernukhin.
At the time, Labour’s shadow cabinet minister Jon Trickett said: ‘Theresa May needs to explain what checks have taken place, and why her party has accepted money from individuals with links to Putin’s regime, despite her promises.’
The Tories have repeatedly defended taking money from Mrs Chernukhin, saying her husband, Vladimir, who served as deputy finance minister under Putin in the early 2000s, fell out with the president after being dismissed from his job in charge of a state-run bank before moving to London.
Both the Conservative Party and Downing St refused to comment last night.
There is no suggestion that Mr and Mrs Chernukhin’s wealth is illegitimate.
The Goring is where the Duchess of Cambridge spent her last night as a commoner ahead of her wedding to William.
‘Fair amount of wine was drunk’ ‘Relaxed and talkative dinner’