Skip to main content
The Ben Elliot experience
SOLOMON HUGHES introduces the Conservative Party co-chairman who loves money, loves those with lots of it, and loves to lobby on its behalf: a fitting rogue for the role
The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince of Wales and Ben Elliot in 2015

IN one of those revealing moments, the Tory party leadership managed to annoy even their own membership with a bit of unpleasant arrogance. Conservative Party co-chairman Ben Elliot wrote to all their members demanding money.

“I’ve been reviewing our supporter list and it looks like you haven’t yet made a contribution to our campaign,” Elliot’s email said, under the passive-aggressive headline “does this look right to you?”

The “header” of the email had an equally haughty tone: it was just a bald instruction, saying “Please read and confirm.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
A Typhoon FGR4 at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, March 27, 2026
Features / 22 April 2026
22 April 2026

While politicians fixate on defence budgets, the real answers lie in peace-building and economic justice, says ALAN SIMPSON

Prime Minister Keir Starmer with Labour's new deputy leader Lucy Powell at an event in central London, October 25, 2025
Features / 28 November 2025
28 November 2025

Martin Taylor, the hedge-fund multimillionaire who has poured millions into pushing Labour rightwards, helped finance Lucy Powell’s supposedly dissenting campaign — suggesting her victory was not the ‘soft-left’ rebellion some have claimed, says SOLOMON HUGHES

TORY HIGH SOCIETY:  Sir John Ritblat
Features / 19 September 2025
19 September 2025

It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES

COST CONTROL MODE: Health Secretary Wes Streeting during a visit to NHS National Operations Centre in London on July 25 2025
Features / 18 September 2025
18 September 2025

Politicians who continue to welcome contracts with US companies without considering the risks and consequences of total dependency in the years to come are undermining the raison d’etre of the NHS, argues Dr JOHN PUNTIS