Wife of former minister to Putin makes cut for Johnson’s draft resignation honours list
THE wife of a former minister in Vladimir Putin’s government is on a list of business people and donors who are to be honoured in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
A draft list being circulated by civil servants in Whitehall includes Lubov Chernukhin, who has bid tens of thousands of pounds to play tennis with the Prime Minister, and David Ross, one of the founders of Carphone Warehouse.
The news came as Gordon Brown, the former prime minister, said he had seen proposals drawn up by Sir Lynton Crosby’s CT Group to appoint up to 50 new Tory peers to force contentious Brexit-linked legislation through the House of Lords. Each peer would have to agree to “sign away” their rights to make a judgment on draft laws, Mr Brown said, writing in The Guardian: “The document proposes that Johnson ride roughshod over every convention and standard of propriety in an effort to secure political nominees who will vote for the Tory Government.”
Ms Chernukhin, 49, has given nearly £2million to the party over the years. Her donations are controversial because of her marriage to Vladimir Chernukhin, a former deputy finance minister to the Russian president.
Mr Ross, a multi-millionaire businessman, is a major Tory donor who helped arrange a £15,000 holiday in Mustique for Johnson and his wife Carrie in 2019. Mr Ross said he had not paid “any monies” for the trip and later clarified that he had “facilitated” accommodation for the couple. He was also reappointed chairman of the National Portrait Gallery last September.
Many of the names are now going through early stage vetting. Not all of those on the list will get honours, and the final list is not likely to be announced until several weeks after Mr Johnson leaves office in September.
Other names put forward for honours are said to include Ben Elliot, the party co-chairman who has been one of the party’s most successful fundraisers. The nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall, Mr Elliot is a supreme networker, who was made chairman by Mr Johnson when he became leader three years ago.
He set up Quintessentially which provides its clients with all the trappings of a luxury lifestyle as well as a concierge services to wealthy clients.
Mr Elliot, 47, is likely to be offered a knighthood rather than a peerage in the resignation honours list because he is said to harbour hopes of becoming an MP.
Malik Karim, a Tory party treasurer, as well as founder and chief executive of City firm Fenchurch Advisory, is also likely to be rewarded in the resignation honours list.
Dominic Johnson, chief executive of Somerset Capital Management, which he co-founded with the Brexit minister Jacob Rees-mogg, is also being lined up for an honour. Mr Johnson is also a nonexecutive director at the Department for International Trade. Other names mooted for an honour include financier Jamie Reuben, 34, the co-owner of Newcastle United since last October, who has reportedly donated heavily to the Tories since Mr Johnson became leader.
A further mooted recipient for an honour is Selva Pankaj, chief executive of Regent Group, which runs private colleges and recently hired former Tory chief whip Sir Gavin Williamson as a £50,000 a year advisor.
Downing Street sources insisted that conversations about the resignation honours list were yet to start.
A No10 spokesman said: “There is a long-standing convention whereby individuals can be nominated for an honour or peerage in recognition of their public and political service.
“It has also been the case under successive governments from across the political spectrum that Prime Ministers can draw up a ‘Dissolution’ or ‘Resignation’ List.
“And we’ve always said that following retirements and other departures, new members are needed to ensure the Lords has appropriate expertise and continues to fulfil its role in scrutinising and revising legislation.”