Big beasts ready to flee Aspinall’s troubled charity
WHEN casino and wildlife park owner Damian Aspinall brought in the Prime Minister’s wife as his PR chief, he doubtless looked forward to lots of positive publicity.
Carrie Johnson’s appointment has, however, turned the spotlight on the inner workings of the socialite’s charity. And now, I hear, two of its most prominent board members are to step down.
‘King of clubs’ Robin Birley and his half-brother, financier Ben Goldsmith, are understood to be planning to resign as trustees of the Aspinall Foundation once an internal investigation into the charity is completed.
Caroline Russell, the lawyer leading the probe, is said to have pointed out that Birley has been a trustee for almost ten years when it’s considered best practice to hold such roles for six or seven. Goldsmith has been in post for eight.
‘Robin agreed to be a trustee as a favour for his friend Damian but does not want to be tainted by any suggestion of scandal,’ one of his friends tells me. ‘He has greatly enjoyed being a trustee and believes Aspinall does some great work.’
Birley has pictures of the creatures from Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent all over his Mayfair private members’ club, 5 Hertford Street, even though he was mauled by a tiger there as a child, leaving him permanently scarred.
Carrie was appointed as the foundation’s head of communications in January to promote its work on protecting endangered species. However, the next month this newspaper revealed that her employer was being investigated by the Charity Commission over what the regulator called its ‘financial management and wider governance’.
A Mail investigation raised concerns that the foundation was funnelling cash to members of the Aspinall family and allowing Damian to live in a stately home it owns for a below-market rent. The foundation’s trustees then commissioned a second inquiry, by Ms Russell, to establish whether its affairs were legal. This week, the charity was involved in more controversy after Carrie wrote an article boasting about its plans to spend £1million flying 13 elephants from Kent to the plains of Africa. The plans sparked an international row, with Kenya’s ministry of wildlife saying it had not been consulted. Conservationist Adam Hart, who presents science programmes on BBC Radio 4, rubbished the project as ‘ego conservation’. Damian is the son of gambling legend John Aspinall, a pal of the late Lord Lucan, and he’ll be upset to lose two loyal trustees. Luckily, his daughter Tansy, 31, became a trustee in 2019. Perhaps ambitious Carrie could join her on the board? A spokesman for Birley tells me: ‘Robin is waiting for the recommendations of the report, and will act accordingly.’ He says it wouldn’t be true to say he had stepped down already. Goldsmith says he has no plans to resign ‘for the time being’.