Alexander Temerko
Alexander Temerko is a wealthy Russian businessman and energy industry investor whose company Offshore Group Newcastle (OGN) constructs oil and gas platforms and builds foundations for offshore wind turbines.
Temerko is Director of Business Development and Deputy Chairman of the OGN Board. [1]
Conservative Party donor
Temerko is one of the Conservative Party's biggest donors, reportedly donating a total of £208,500 in the two years to September 2013. This includes £104,500 worth of contributions in the first quarter of 2013, making him the eighth biggest donor for the period. His company OGN donated a further £139,655[2] (117,300 of this in the second quarter). [3]
The level of Temerko's donations have secured him direct access to Prime Minister David Cameron through the PM's Leader's Group. Since 2012 Temerko has attended two of this donor club's elite events and in 2013 reportedly bought a bust of David Cameron for £90,000.[4]
Views
In September 2013 Temerko became the first high-profile investor to publicly criticise the government's green energy policies in what The Independent deemed 'an unprecedented attack' on George Osborne, David Cameron and Ed Davey. He accused the trio of squandering an opportunity to create thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of revenues by scaring off desperately-needed investors in the UK offshore wind industry.
Temerko called the Coalition's approach to energy policy 'hypocritical', arguing that Cameron should honour his pledge to 'lead the greenest government ever'.
By quarter 3 of 2013 OGN's donation to the Tory party had dropped significantly to £31,720. [5] Temerko himself only donated £5,600 [6]
Lobbying firms
Temerko's OGN Group is listed as a client of Bell Pottinger Public Affairs as of 4 February 2014 and previously employed Gardant Communications [7]
Affiliations
- Russian oil giant Yukos - served as deputy to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a political opponent of Vladimir Putin jailed by a Russian court in May 2005, released in 2013
- David Cameron's Leaders' Group
Notes
- ↑ Board of Directors, undated, accessed 19 September 2013
- ↑ Tom Bawden, Tory donor knocks wind out of Coalition green energy ‘sales’, The Independent, 18 September 2013
- ↑ Conservative Party donors revealed for Q2 2013, SearchTheMoney.com, Published: 2013-08-13 10:22:12 UTC
- ↑ Jason Groves, Revealed: The £43m paid by elite group of donors for access to top Tories including David Cameron, Daily Mail, 23 January 2014, acc 4 February 2014
- ↑ City Diary: Helena Morrissey to rescue the careers of 'lost middle' women, Harriet Dennys | Telegraph, Nov 14, 2013
- ↑ Conservative Party donors revealed for Q3 2013, searchthemoney.com, Published: 2013-11-13 11:29:54 UTC, acc 5 Feb 2014
- ↑ Current Register 1st September 2013 - 30th November 2014 Bell Pottinger, APPC, acc 4 February 2014
