"For Tory grandees licking their wounds and plotting their return after their disastrous 2024 general election performance, the opulent, fire-lit rooms of the exclusive club 5 Hertford Street are a sanctuary. But in recent weeks, their long lunches have been rudely interrupted by Liz Truss, who has been accused of wandering the premises in search of members to poach for her own rival operation, just one street away, which asks founding members for an eye-watering 500,000."
"The former prime minister's alleged headhunting is understood to have irritated those who run the Mayfair club, including its owner, Robin Birley, the entrepreneur and son of Annabel Goldsmith and the nightclub owner Mark Birley. A friend of his says: It is rather rude, but at 500k, we are rather better value. Membership of 5 Hertford Street is a relative snip at less than 2,000 a year."
"On a recent December afternoon, the bauble-bedecked club bursting at the seams with Conservative big hitters and their sequin-clad guests, a member asked the Guardian: Who would pay half a million to hang out with Liz Truss? The Leconfield was dreamed up by Truss and the property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz, who is transforming his Curzon Street offices for the venture."
5 Hertford Street functions as an exclusive Mayfair sanctuary for Conservative grandees after the 2024 election defeat. Liz Truss has been accused of wandering the club to recruit members for a rival venture, Leconfield, which requests a £500,000 founding fee. The alleged recruitment has annoyed club operators and owner Robin Birley, whose friend contrasts the new fee with 5 Hertford Street's sub-£2,000 annual membership. 5 Hertford Street offers a sushi bar, a fairy light-lit cigar terrace and high-end service. Robert Tchenguiz is converting Curzon Street offices into Leconfield House, a plainer site opposite a betting shop.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]