BANG OUT OF ORDER

Rich pals jostle for position in Lords

A top Tory who has been embroiled in cash-for-access scandals is being considered for a peerage in Boris Johnson’s crony House of Lords wish list, it has been suggested.

It’s understood Conservative chairman Ben Elliot – whose firm has been accused of selling access to Prince Charles and boasting of links to “Russian elites” – is being lined up for a gong in the PM’s resignation honours list.

And more big ticket donors are being discussed, many of them members of Johnson’s “advisory committee” of donors who are granted access to senior ministers in return for giving more than £ 250,000 to the party.

They include John Gore, a Bahamas-based donor who has funded the party to the tune of £ 4.2million, and David Ross, the Carphone Warehouse founder who ar ranged a Caribbean getaway for Johnson.

Elliot’s firm, Quintessentially, was accused in August of introducing clients to Prince Charles after they spent £15,000 on a top-tier membership to the service.

At thetime, a spokes person said the meeting with the prince was “entirely about helping to raise money for charity.”

Fol lowing outrage af ter the invasion of Ukraine, Quintessentially closed its Russian off ice and Russian language website, with a spokesperson saying the firm was “in effect out of Russia”.

Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said: “Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list reads like a catalogue of Conservative cronies, from a Tory party chair who freelanced on foreign policy, to a billionaire based in the Bahamas, to the man at the heart of the scandal over the PM’s freebie holiday in Mustique.

“Right to the last, this Prime Minister seems intent on dragging British pol itics through the gutter. We need a fresh start with Labour.”

In his last act as Prime Minister, Johnson is expected to put as many as 39 Tory backers forward for the House of Lords.

There are already 253 Tory peers in the Lords – 87 more than Labour.

Such a large Tory bloc would mean a Labour government could have to rely on the votes of crossbench peers to pass its bills.

Johnson has already created 43 Tory peers since he entered No10 – compared to 26 by Theresa May in less time. The Lords has swelled from 736 in 2010 to 762 this year.

Billionaire party backers have been jostling for position in recent weeks as Downing Street and the Conservative Party prepare two lists of knighthoods and peerages, expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and Sir Nicholas Soames – the former Tory MP and grandson of Winston Churchill – are understood to have been placed on the list.

It’s claimed a further seven donors have been discussed for a peerage – with one or more names already passed to the

House of Lords Appointments Commission ( HOLAC) for vetting.

A source said Elliot was being considered for a peerage, for which he would have to undergo HOLAC vetting. But a source said Elliot is set for a knighthood if his peerage is rejected by the committee, as that would “only have to get through the Cabinet Office”.

Russian-born banker Lubov Chernukhin was also said to be under discussion, although her spokesperson said she had not been approached by anyone about an honour.

Chernukhin, whose husband Vladimir served as deputy finance minister to President Putin before coming to the UK, has repeatedly paid for access to successive Prime Ministers ministers in Tory fundraising auctions, including a cosy night out with May and a tennis match with Johnson.

In total, Chernukhin has given almost £ 2million to the party – and is the biggest female political donor in British history. There’s no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Chernukhin, who holds a UK passport and is entitled to donate to political parties.

Billionaire Ross made headlines last year when he arranged the use of a luxury villa on the exclusive Caribbean island of Mustique for Johnson and then fiancee Carrie’s £15,000 new year break.

He has given more than £700,000 to the Conservative Party in cash donations and gifts – including £10,000 for Johnson’s leadership campaign Meanwhile , Gore had handed at least £250,000 to the Tories despite living on a Caribbean island for more than a decade.