Tory co-chair told to separate public and business roles

THE co-chairman of the Conservative Party has been warned to draw a clearer line between his private and party work by the UK’S lobbying watchdog in the wake of claims he offered clients access to senior figures in exchange for money.

Harry Rich, the head of the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, said he opened an investigation into Ben Elliot’s company following media reports that he had arranged meetings between his clients and senior figures in the British establishment, including Prince Charles.

Mr Rich’s investigation concluded that the company, Quintessentially, fell outside his remit because it had not been engaged in consultant lobbying.

His office said that he had received a “detailed explanation of Quintessentially’s business activities” and “explicit assurances” from the company in a letter.

But Mr Rich warned Mr Elliot that he should “be cautious about the possibility of engaging in consultant lobbying activity – perhaps unintentionally – by not making a clear enough distinction between his role as a director of Quintessentially and his other activities connected to Government”.

Mr Elliot is the co-chairman of the Conservatives and is widely credited with recruiting more donors.

He also holds a separate unpaid role with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as a “food surplus and waste champion”.

He remains a director of Quintessentially, a firm he founded that offers private concierge services to wealthy clients.

A spokesman for Mr Elliot said: “The registrar has made clear that Quintessentially does not lobby Government and therefore does not need to register as a lobbyist.”