ITV News
- Alexander Temerko had been considering legal action against Penny Mordaunt.
- The minister had suggested his power-cable project posed a threat to Britain’s energy security.
- He responded angrily, but a spokesman told Insider that he is no longer considering a lawsuit.
One of the Conservative Party’s biggest donors has backed away from his threat to take legal action against a serving minister.
The Soviet-born businessman Alexander Temerko is finalising plans to seek a judicial review of the UK government’s decision to block a £1.2 billion cross-Channel power cable project.
But he is no longer planning to take action against Penny Mordaunt, a vocal opponent of the project.
Temerko has personally given the Tories more than £740,000. He is the director of Aquind, the company behind the energy project, which has also donated at least £400,000 to the Conservatives.
Mordaunt, an international trade minister and MP for Portsmouth North, angered Temerko by warning the project could pose a threat to Britain’s energy security.
Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images
The former defence secretary suggested it could make Britain more reliant on France, allowing Paris to “use future energy supply as a bargaining chip.”
Her comments followed a souring of relations between the two countries over post-Brexit fishing rights, which led to the French government threatening to cut power to Jersey, a dependency of the UK.
When Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, announced the government would not proceed with the electricity link between Portsmouth and Normandy, Temerko lashed out at Mordaunt.
The oligarch told The Telegraph she was an “absolutely uncontrollable woman.”
In a subsequent interview with the Press Association, he said he intended to seek a judicial review. He added he was also “considering action against Penny Mordaunt because there’s something in her statement that was absolutely wrong”.
Temerko also threatened to write to Johnson – whom he describes as a friend – regarding her position as a minister.
A spokesperson for Temerko told Insider that he still believes Mordaunt breached the ministerial code, a matter he said would “indeed merit a discussion with the party.”
But, the spokesperson said, Temerko had decided that legal action against Mordaunt was “not a priority”.
“Our focus is the judicial review and nothing else,” he said.
The spokesman said he expected the review to begin in days.
Temerko’s comments about Mordaunt, and the lack of public support from the Conservative party, were criticized by some within the party, all of whom were granted anonymity to speak frankly.
One former minister said: “Temerko’s language about Penny was hideous – suggesting women are there to be controlled… Penny opposed [the link] in her patch – perfectly legitimate for an MP to express a view.”
Another party source said: “Threatening a member of Parliament for doing their duty, and making defamatory remarks against them is quite wrong and has not gone unnoticed.”
A third Conservative figure said: “These guys [donors] are becoming more empowered. Temerko calling Penny Mordaunt an uncontrollable woman would not have happened five years ago.
“I was quite shocked the party didn’t say ‘that is not the way our donors speak to our elected representatives’.”
Mordaunt told Insider: “The only person who should control MPs is the Speaker of the House.”
Temerko’s spokesman described the “uncontrollable woman” comment as a “malapropism” and said there was “nothing sexist about it”.
A Conservative spokesman said: “We cannot comment on legal proceedings. CCHQ has no involvement in government planning decisions.”
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