Thread by @fascinatorfun

Big UKIP donor and Mayfair club owner gives £20,000 to Boris Johnson's campaign -

Birley, is Zac Goldsmith's half brother

The Mail reported that Johnson’s team’s Priti Patel MP, met with Nigel Farage, Arron Banks and DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr. at Birley’s

mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

I wonder what they could have been discussing.

££££ in exchange for what?

Of course Goldsmith’s father was also a founding father of UKIP.

Meanwhile Birley recently attended a fundraising dinner for alt-right group Turning Point UK that was addressed by Farage

As @J_amesp points out Kippergate was all about diverting the eye (he should have waved a dead cat) from the behind the scenes alliance between Johnson and the BXP/UKIP Bannon style leveraging the Tory Party ever closer to the Cliff edge of the right

https://twitter.com/j_amesp/status/1152129894178013184?s=21

And here it is in action as @sajidjavid on behalf of the Tories does his bit by praising Farage “not an extremist”.

See how you are all being played? By Bannon and Russia.

This is not patriotism or “going global”. This is Nationalism and isolationism

theguardian.com/politics/2019/…

No sooner had I posted this than this @ReutersUK story dropped into my feed.

From Russia to Johnson with love & money through mates

What’s said in public by Russian Ukrainian Alexander Temerko about EU membership seems to be different from that said in private
@RealBristolNews

2/. Arms Business. Energy. Connections at the top of the Kremlin, Temerko has gifted more than £1 million to the Conservatives since he gained British citizenship in 2011, electoral finance records show

And, from this article, he supported the ERG bid to oust May before Xmas

3/ “In one conversation in February this year, Temerko said he’d joined an unsuccessful attempt led by members of a group of hardline Conservative MPs, the European Research Group, to remove Theresa May as leader in December 2018. “

Confirmed by a senior Tory in confidence

4/ Denied by Rees Mogg who has significant Russian business investments through his Somerset Capital.

Astonishing that such a generous donor to the Conservative Party with such a deep knowledge of Russian business would be unknown to ERG’s Leader Rees Mogg

5/. This is a long read, but is is pretty plain that a Russian Ukraine with ties to the top of the Kremlin played his part in the toppling of May to install a more “Brexit driven” PM.

This is not patriotism. It is the reverse.

A longer read but well worth the time.

6/ Especially when you see who is in Temerko’s circle.

James Wharton – a former Conservative MP who is overseeing Johnson’s leadership campaign and is a paid adviser to power firm Aquind Ltd where Temerko is a director.

...Wait for it. Wait for it.

7/. Martin Callanan – Britain’s minister of state for exiting the EU. He served on the board of Temerko’s Aquind from May 2016 to June 2017.

Yep. That Lord Callahan that falsely stated that A50 notice was irrevocable and had to correct it.

reuters.com/investigates/s…

8/. Can’t help but think that the references to backing Hunt is just more sleight of hand and dead cats.

Either way.

What are the security services doing about this?

9/
July 2016 convo with the author as the Reuter’s article
H/T @RealBristolNews

“Temerko said "a group of East European businessmen" had helped sway Johnson into siding in February 2016 with campaigners for Britain's departure from the EU after months of sitting on the fence”

10/ There’s some more details in the photos of the CapeBreton article above about Wharton. I didn’t know he submitted an EU Referendum Bill in 2013.

Or that he thought Gavin Williamson “a good lad”.

11/
Or that Lynton Crosby, business partner of Mark Fulbrook, Johnson’s leadership campaign manager, was friends with Temerko

Crosby’s firm has donated money to Johnson & loaned him money. Original source of the money?

Then a Russian fertiliser giant

capebretonpost.com/news/world/spe…

12/. I found this 2008 FT article that makes interesting reading once you get your head around the cast of character but Temerko is there again with his erstwhile next door neighbour in Russia Timchenko and Lord Ashcroft’s pal Pannikov

https://twitter.com/fascinatorfun/status/1152240341023711233?s=21