In the recent scrutiny of his ties to power, it was reported that Lord Evgeny Lebedev hadn’t actually spoken or voted in the House Of Lords since the day of his maiden speech. Within a day of that story breaking, Lebedev suddenly became to inspired to file two written questions: one on food waste, one on food poverty.
The topic caught our eye because we remembered Michael Gove once brought a friend in from outside politics to help out on exactly that same matter. His old poker buddy, Ben Elliot: the high-society fixer best known for providing lifestyle management services to London’s ultra-rich (including at least one recently sanctioned oligarch) through his company, Quintessentially.
Elliot remains the government’s official ‘Food Waste Czar’, but has taken on more responsibility since becoming Tory party chairman. So Lebedev’s question on food waste was picked up and answered by Zac Goldsmith instead – who also just so happens to have been another regular at Gove and Elliot’s old poker nights.
It’s strange Lebedev didn’t already know about the government’s plans for food waste because if you search ‘Food Waste Czar’ on Google, the top results are the Independent and the Evening Standard – both of which have glowingly profiled Ben and his plans. And both of which are owned by… Evgeny Lebedev.
Still, now that Lebedev has had his burning question answered and no longer looks like he’s simply in the House Of Lords for decoration, hopefully journalists will lay off him a bit. |