The Tory peer received a bonus of $4m (3.14m) after helping Deripaska get the company removed from a list of firms hit by US sanctions. Lord Barker of Battle, as he has been known since his elevation to the House of Lords, has also worked for another Russian businessman with the ear of Britains powerful elite, Oleg Deripaska. Firtash and his entities deny any wrongdoing. Union leader urges Health Secretary not to be disrespectful to striking nurses, Union boss hits out over criticism of strike on eve of Eurovision, Start-up backed by Sunaks wife given government grant, Celtic fans sing you can shove your coronation up your a***, Elevenses: Maybe its because were little Englanders, Elevenses: Exposing the Tories Deepfake Illegal Immigration Bill, Elevenses: Fear and Loathing in the New Conservatives, The Queen supports Black Lives Matter, royal aide reveals, YouTubers, Influencers and Internet Stars: The Content Creation economy, PMs wrap to Committee *I got under 21 mins before Dom has got to go*, Watch Boris Johnson on WTO terms theres a clarity and a simplicity in that approach, Imagine the wedding present list! In 2016, however, he wrote a column in the Evening Standard defending Vladimir Putin after the Russian presidents close friend Sergei Roldugin appeared in the Panama Papers. The problem is that Russias security services have no such scruples and that the Russian President Vladimir Putin has form when he was head of the KGB for identifying then Russias Prosecutor-General as the man in bed with two prostitutes on a grainy video. Shortly afterwards, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who had served as a minister under Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and was then chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, resigned from the group, saying he had been unhappy for some time about the group's behaviour and "political direction". The campaigns director, Dominic Cummings, spent three years in Russia from 1994 to 1997. The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work. Rajan, who has denied doing so, killed the story before it was put to King. The campaign included a letter signed by 32 Members of Parliament which was submitted to the Honours and Decorations (HD) Committee on Remembrance Day, requesting that the veterans be rewarded with a medal in recognition of the part they played in the vital Arctic Convoy missions throughout the Second World War.[12][13]. Byline Times is funded by its subscribers. Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. He also sponsors the Baillie Gifford literature prize and is the main benefactor of multiple London museums and art galleries. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. It said the industrialist had funded some of Johnsons key allies in parliament, including James Wharton, who ran Johnsons successful prime ministerial campaign. Other donations have flowed to Brandon Lewis, the former Tory party chairman. If you have any queries about republishing please contact us. [9][10][11][12] She was the first unmarried partner of a prime minister to reside at Downing Street. He was subsequently photographed in the company of the then Foreign Secretary at a fundraising event in Reading. Its chair, Nicholas Cobb, runs an energy communications firm focused on Russia and former Soviet republics, who has appeared on Russia Today as a pro-Moscow pundit. [23] Symonds was present when Whittingdale and others launched Conservative Friends of Russia (later called the Westminster Russia Forum and disbanded in March 2022) and has attended several of its meetings. [2][8], In July 2019, Johnson became prime minister and both he and Symonds officially moved into the flat above 11 Downing Street. At the end of November 2012 it emerged that the group's key contact at the Russian Embassy in London was First Secretary Sergey Nalobin, the son of a KGB/FSB general, whose brother also served in the FSB. Johnson attended Lebedevs 60th birthday party the day after winning Decembers general election. Nigel Farages former party UKIP has been a strong supporter of Russia for over a decade. In 2014, Whittingale was photographed in Ukrainian fancy dress in London with Maria Tymofienko, who styled herself in emails as Assistant to John WhittingdaleMP Chair All-Party ParliamentaryGroup on Ukraine. Now called the Westminster Russia Forum (WRF), the groups British organisers often appear on the Russian state broadcaster, RT. By the spring of 2016, four newspapers the Mirror, the Sun, the Mail on Sunday and The Independent had the story of Whittingdales extraordinary relationship with professional dominatrix Olivia King, also known as Mistress Kate, but had not run it. Former German chancellor Gerhard Schrder has maintained that his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin are a valuable channel of communication. Tymofienko set up an interview with a Ukrainian television station for her boss. His communications firm, New Century Media, founded a Positive Russia foundation to improve Moscows image in the UK. While direct contacts between Conservatives and Russian officials appear to have chilled when Nalobin was effectively expelled in 2015, intermediaries still made approaches. no less than 17 times between 2010 and 2014. invited him to meet the Russian Ambassador too, gold consolidation deal was pursued for several months, reported to be have been the handler of Russian spies in the UK, Bannon, Brexit, Johnson and Cambridge Analytica: the Daughter of Time, Boris Johnson and Donald Trumps Private Talks on Privatising the NHS Reveal Denials were Untrue, Suella Braverman to Address Radical 'National Conservatism' Event With Ties to US Right, Stereotyped and Belittled: Ukrainians Suffer from UK Asylum Policy, Demonising Inflation and the True Cost of Living. Fund a better media. Luke Hardings latest book Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russias Remaking of the West (Guardian Faber) is available from the Guardian Bookshop. 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Lucas, a journalist who was involved in calls to dissolve the Conservative Friends of Russia in 2013, has called its return a mushroom sprouting on top of a compost heap. Subsequent attendees include alt-right commentator Milos Yiannopolous and the then MP Douglas Carswell. Another rich oligarch born in the Soviet Union, Alexander Temerko, has contributed more than 1 million to the Conservatives since he gained British citizenship in 2011 and also financed Johnsons leadership campaign. Whittingdale was honorary vice-president of Conservative Friends of Russia until it was disbanded. Oliver continued: When Caroline Preston, No 10s head of broadcast, hears us talking about the Albanian model she jokes: Oh no! The source for the Firtash-Mogilevich connection was reportedly Firtash himself to then US Ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, in 2008. Direct party funding is only the tip of the iceberg. [27][23] It was reported that she was asked to leave her post as director of communications, with Conservative Party sources in the Daily Mail newspaper claiming that the firing was due to poor performance and allegations of significant unjustified expenses claims. Whittingdale had been protected from scrutiny for a long time. They say he let her see confidential documents in his ministerial Red Box, texted her photos from Chequers, and was asked to leave the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel after mutual drunken heavy petting. It does indeed, most relevant given his various Russian connection. Ultimately he sold his shares for 550m in 2018 to the US sports tycoon Stan Kroenke. [9], The group's Board lost all of its Conservative MPs amid allegations of being too close to the Russian authorities and it was rebranded as the Westminster Russia Forum, a non-partisan group, which claims to promote an open platform to debate various issues such as international diplomacy, energy security and internal political systems. All have homes in London, with several visiting regularly from Moscow. Whittingdales name was mud. Given the weight of evidence, these are reasonable inquiries. [8] Nalobin invited the group to hold its launch party in August in the Kensington garden of the Russian ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko. Symonds and Whittingdale were fixtures at beanos thrown by the Conservative Friends of Russia, a group set up with the help of Sergey Nalobin, widely suspected of being an FSB spy. But Companies House records show it merely changed its. Receive our monthly print edition and help to support fearless, independent journalism. She went to the University of Warwick to study Art History and Theatre Studies, graduating as BA (Hons) in 2009. The forum originally launched as Conservative Friends of Russia in 2012, a political interest group for those with an interest in Russian politics, business, history and culture, with the aim of strengthening relations between the British and Russian communities. Farages support for Putin was vocal until recently and he has twice described the Russian President as the most impressive world leader. openDemocracy this week revealed that more than 200 Russian millionaires had been given golden visas, despite an earlier government pledge to clamp down on the practice. Cusick wrote that Amol Rajan had a problem. A group trip to Moscowattracted controversy in 2012when it emerged that the Russian diplomat liaising with Conservative Friends of Russia was the son of a top-ranking Kremlin spy. [47] She was additionally involved in a political controversy over the refurbishment of the 11 Downing Street flat,[47] and her comments over the flat's decor being a "John Lewis furniture nightmare" (John Lewis typically being an aspirational, upper-middle-class shop) led to accusations of snobbery. According to the Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry last week, an official-level whistleblower has raised concerns about Cummings time in Russia, and questions about his relationships with figures in Russian politics, intelligence, and security as well as his relationship with Nalobins Conservative friends of Russia. He introduced him to the prime minister, David Cameron. The inquiry, which the Bow Group says should be "independent of the Government and the Conservative Party", needed to consider the specific role Ms Symonds plays in Downing Street, details of . Reportedly, Firtash used the gas gold to buy Ukrainian politicians to stay loyal to the Kremlin, up to and including disgraced Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The real problem is the Russian influence operation in the serious think tanks, [in] the City of London, and [in] the large amounts of money being made by bankers, lawyers and accountants who focus on pushing the Russian regime, including by donating large amounts of money to political parties.. She was a similar age and lived close to me. It has an active Twitter feed, echoing official lines from Kremlin-funded organisations although it has been uncharacteristically silent since Putins movement this week of recognising the separatist Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of Ukraine, and since the start of todays invasion. In March 2014, Austrian authorities arrested Firtash on a multi-million bribery rap sought by the FBI. Mamut replaced her with a pro-Kremlin journalist. Spouse of the prime minister of the United Kingdom, 2010 London Conservative Party mayoral selection, Communities, Local Government and Housing Secretary, refurbishment of the 11 Downing Street flat, "Under new management: is Carrie Symonds the real power at No 10? Rebecca Fulton/Getty Images. [9][10][11][12] She was the first unmarried partner of a prime minister to reside at Downing Street. ", "John Lewis: rich woman's nightmare, poor woman's dream", "How Cummings and Carrie Symonds vie for Johnson's attention", "Sorting through the shrapnel: what Dominic Cummings' grenade-ridden riposte means", "Carrie Symonds defended over 'sexist fabrication' that she tried to get minister fired", "Carrie Symonds 'tried to install friends in key roles', Dominic Cummings claims", "Samantha Cameron defends Carrie Symonds over 'Lady Macbeth' attacks", "Carrie Symonds is a serious political player so it's not sexist to ask 'What's her game? Three named directors are Richard Glasspool, a former partner at KPMG Russia and former head of the risk committee of the Credit Bank of Moscow, run by Putin-friendly oligarch Roman Avdeev; Kirill Glukhovskoy, formerly a senior lawyer with major Russian energy companies according to the Aquind website; and oligarch Alexander Temerko. As a Ukrainian living in the UK, I am a patriot and wished to assist my home country in a time of crisis. According to The Guardian, a judicial review was granted permission to examine how the decision was reached. The DCMS Committee also found evidence that Russia had access to a Cambridge Analytica database which been compiled through the hacking of 50 to 170 million Facebook users and deployed this during both the EU Referendum and the 2016 Presidential Election campaign to target UK and US voters. The big source of Firtashs money has been his control of entities supplying Russian gas to Ukraine. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his partner, Carrie Symonds, wave from the steps of 10 Downing Street in London. Super-wealthy businessmen from former Soviet countries also control a dizzying array of UK assets spanning football clubs, oil and gas and multimillion-pound mansions. Find out more about us. [32][2], Symonds was previously in a relationship with The Sun journalist Harry Cole. Has he put himself in a position where he is vulnerable to the public perception that he is the Kremlins man? The Russia Report is scathing about the power of Moscow gold to win the hearts and minds of corrupt British figures, but the evidence remains in the shadows. As Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee in the US, has said: From what weve seen, the parallels between the Russian intervention in Brexit and the Russian intervention in the Trump campaign appear to be extraordinary., Here is a summary of findings of Russian influence in Britain so far which Boris Johnson doesnt want you to see. The soon-to-be married couple adopted the Jack Russell-cross shortly after arriving in. Conservative Friends of Russia has been disbanded with "immediate effect" following the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. His then teenage son was educated at a leading British private school. Others have made substantial investments in media and industry. A few miles across north London lies Arsenal Football Club, in which the Uzbek-born Russian metals, mining and publishing billionaire Alisher Usmanov was a long-time shareholder even at one time considering a full takeover. He spent 40,000 on a portrait of Margaret Thatcher. But his return to the frontbench might be explained by the fact that his one-time special advisor was Carrie Symonds, the Prime Ministers partner and mother of his fifth or sixth child. Nikolai Chernyshevsky (1828-1889) hernyshevsky distinguished himself as a publicist . After that meeting, Farage made almost monthly appearances on RT. [21] She worked at Conservative Campaign Headquarters,[22] and later campaigned for Boris Johnson in the 2010 London Conservative Party mayoral selection. Former MEP and party secretary, Gerard Batten, has been close to former KGB figures since the 1980s and identified Alexander Litvinenko as a disaffected FSB officer six months before he was murdered by polonium poisoning by Putins security services. He learned espionage at the Red Banner Institute and joined the KGBs prestigious first directorate, specialising in foreign intelligence work. 2. Until this point, Whittingdale had not commented on the Byline pieces or an article in Private Eye. [48][49][50], During Dominic Cummings's tenure as chief adviser, Cummings and Carrie Symonds were said to represent two separate factions influencing the prime minister. [57], In December 2021, Politico Europe named her as one of the "disrupters" in its annual list of 28 people who will shape Europe in the year to come. Byline Times is funded by its subscribers. The groups act as a conduit between the party and certain countries or regions. [45] She was also influential in making sure that Lee Cain did not get a job as the prime minister's chief of staff,[46] and urged Boris Johnson to fire environment secretary George Eustice from his role. Sue Hawley, the director of Spotlight on Corruption, told openDemocracy: Its somewhat chilling that as the UK strikes a tough posture in relation to Russia it could leave such a blindspot at home.. It is high time that these groups were brought out of the shadows, adequately regulated and that the public can have far greater insight into how they operate and who is behind them.. Ask George Osborne, Craig Oliver or Carrie Symonds. Staines and his business partner, Jag Singh, who was active in Moscow during the 2011 election campaign, later worked for the Russian Embassy on political campaigning. Then, working at BBC Newsnight, I was not interested in his dalliance with Miss Whiplash but his anomaly in the registration of benefits in kind and the fact that four newspapers had sat on the story perhaps because Whittingdale was seen as pro-paper and anti-Leveson. Pritchard sits on parliaments intelligence and security committee (ISC), which on Tuesday published its long-awaited Russia report. He said: As the unwarranted, barbaric and unjustified invasion of sovereign Ukraine shows no signs of ending, we once again want to completely, unequivocally and in full condemn this act of aggression. The Bow Group said No 10 needed to. (modern). Though the gold consolidation deal was pursued for several months, Banks says he never took up any of these offers. Sign up to our newsletter (and get a free edition posted to you). The controversial trip attracted significant adverse coverage and, after a further string of scandals, a number of Tory MPs who had been patrons all resigned, including Robert Buckland, Nigel Evans and former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind. The then foreign secretary left his security detail behind and was spotted at the airport on his way home, dishevelled and hungover. Fund a better media. Greg Barker, a former Conservative minister, has worked for the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Whatever youre interested in, theres a free openDemocracy newsletter for you. View our Privacy PolicyandTerms & Conditions, TheLondonEconomic.com Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle. Lubov Chernukhin (fourth from right, next to Theresa May) paid 135,000 to attend a dinner last year with senior female Conservatives at the Goring hotel in central London. That deal left BP with a near-20% stake in the Kremlin-backed company, making cordial Russian relations vital for BP. Craig Oliver, David Camerons spin doctor, takes up the story in his surprisingly good book, Unleashing Demons: I am almost home that evening when I get a call from John Whittingdales Special Adviser, Carrie Symonds Carrie has already drafted a statement which includes the following: Between August 2013 and February 2014, I had a relationship with someone who I first met through Match.com. [3] The group's launch gained mixed reviews in the media from proponents and opponents of the conservatives, with some journalists questioning its neutrality.[4]. This article was corrected to on 18 November 2019 when Jennifer Arcuri denied she attended the Russian Embassy Digital Barbecues. After Austrian police arrested Firtash on behalf of the FBI in March 2014 for his part in the alleged $18.5 million bribe scandal using Group DF to conceal bribe payments using threats and intimidation to further the goals of the criminal enterprise a multi-million-dollar titanium deal Whittingdale carried on as before, making one final trip to Kyiv and two visits to Vienna where Firtash is now based courtesy of the BUS. One Conservative Party guest on the Russia trip told openDemocracy that the forums current setup had no meaningful connection to CFR but despite its rebrand to WFR, the group today still refers to itself as having been founded in 2012. openDemocracy has also obtained emails showing that in 2013, during the Tory coalition with the Liberal Democrats, Russian diplomat Sergey Nalobin attempted to organise a similar trip to Russia for senior Lib Dems. The Whittingdale-Firtash connection made his reappointment last summer to the DCMS (albeit at the lower peg as Minister of State as opposed to Secretary of State) by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson all the more surprising. Read More Not another story about Whittingdale! I laugh about it all day.. He co-authored an anti-EU book with an aide, Pavel Stroilov, who had allegedly fled Russia with smuggled secret Soviet documents. Symonds, a former Conservative head of communications, played a significant role in tearing down Johnson's old Number 10 and in advising the prime minister on how to put together a new one. Alexander Temerko said he was no friend of Vladimir Putin. According to CNN, the evidence of Bill Browder, the campaigner behind the anti-corruption Magnitsky Acts, suggests that Russias President, Vladimir Putin, has deployed Russians to infiltrate UK society and to conceal the underlying Russian controllers and their agendas. Reactions to Johnson-Symonds wedding announcement, Brits Spend Billions On University Degrees They Never Use, UK joins US in withdrawing staff and families from Ukraine embassy, Two women who lost family to stabbings unveil latest knife-drive haul, EuroMillions Results for Friday 26 August 2022 Tonights winning numbers. Long before she became Boris's girlfriend, Carrie - a former spad (special adviser) who became head of communications for the Conservative Party - had a strong network in SW1. Meanwhile, Russian-born oligarchs remain close to the Prime Minister and his entourage. Conservative Friends of Russia held its 2012 launch party in the Russian ambassador's Kensington garden, with about 250 Russian and British guests present, including Tories who went on to. As reported on Byline Times last month, a Ukrainian born oligarch, Dmytro Firtash, currently awaiting extradition to the US, has extensive connections to both Putin, the Russian underworld and the British Brexit establishment, including John Whittingdale. [24][25], Symonds became the Conservative Party's head of communications in 2018,[26] but left the position later that year,[17] taking up a job in public relations for the Oceana project. Ernest Reid, billed on the WRF website as its ambassador at large, has provided commentary for Russia Today and the WRF sympathetic to Russian foreign ministry objectives. Others have made substantial investments in media and industry. 10 job and her friends take key jobs The WRF, which loudly echoes official lines from Moscow, has links with numerous Conservative MPs and other senior UK political figures. "[59], In June 2022, an article by Simon Walters appeared in The Times alleging that Boris Johnson recommended Carrie, who was then his mistress, as a candidate for a 100,000 per annum job as Chief-of-Staff in the Foreign Office while Johnson was Foreign Secretary. New to Byline Times? Think of the person behind the recent raft of Conservative animal welfare policies, and one name springs to mind - the Prime Minister's fiancee, Carrie Symonds.. Udod was invited to a drinks party hosted by Banks on the night of the shock EU Referendum result in June 2016. Whittingdale was accompanied by an office aide, Carrie Symonds, who was promoted to special advisor when he moved into the Cabinet in 2015. And 31% of Republicans prefer close relations with Russia compared with 21% among Democrats. After a power struggle, AAR eventually sold its half in the venture to Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft. Find out more about us. Though Conservative Friends of Russia was subsequently disbanded, Nalobin seems to have established some key Conservative contacts before he left the country under a shadow. In contrast to Temerko, Chernukhin keeps a low public profile. Boris Johnson has maintained a close relationship with the proprietor of the Independent, Evgeny Lebedev himself the son of a former KGB spy. Friends with the Russians Evgeny's father, Alexander Lebedev, was a KGB agent at the Russian embassy in London in the 1980s, later working for its successor agency, the FSB. The former banker turns down interview requests and has not publicly explained why she has given the Conservative party more than 1.7m. Back in April 2016, Whittingdales adventurous private life was the subject of a joke by then Chancellor George Osborne in a speech to the parliamentary lobby. [11], The group successfully campaigned to see British World War II veterans of the Arctic Convoy campaign be awarded their Ushakov Medals by the Russian Government in 2013. The group was founded in 2012 by Richard Royal, a communication specialist for Ladbrokes, and has held over 80 events since then. [31], Symonds was the youngest of Worboys's victims, and waived her anonymity to talk about her experiences and, later, to campaign against his early release, fundraising for a successful judicial review of the decision. For Ms. Symonds, a former Conservative Party communications chief who now works for an animal-rights group, it is the latest trial in a year overstuffed with dramatics: the near-fatal illness of . The BUS is headed by ex-MP Richard Spring, now Lord Risby; on the advisory board is Lord Oxford who as Raymond Asquith, MI6 officer, got Soviet defector Oleg Gordievsky out of Russia in a car boot. Prior to . Read more, Editorial enquiries, please contact: [emailprotected], Commercial enquiries, please contact: [emailprotected]. A conservative think tank has called for an independent inquiry into Boris Johnson's fiance, Carrie Symonds, and her "possible influence" in government. As Otto English has confirmed on Byline Times, his visits to Lebedevs infamous Tuscan parties on one occasion as Foreign Secretary without his security detail have spooked the spooks. She has lots of deeply loyal politico and journo friends. Its launch party was at the Russian ambassador's Kensington garden in 2012, and attended by Tory MPs, peers and Russian diplomats. One of Burnsides employees is Alex Nekrassov, whose late father Alexander was a Kremlin adviser and hardline Putin apologist. [39][40] In July 2021, she announced that they were expecting their second child together, also revealing that she had suffered a miscarriage earlier that year. According to Reuters, Temerko describes himself as a friend who would plot late into the night over a bottle of wine when Johnson became Foreign Secretary. How party donations, sports teams and lavish London residences have granted access to highest echelons of public life. Caroline Louise Beavan Johnson [3] [4] [5] ( ne Symonds; born 17 March 1988) is a British media consultant and the wife of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson.
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