Overview
Sir Benjamin William Elliot (born 11 August 1975) is a British businessman and fund-raiser for the Conservative Party who served as Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party from July 2019 alongside James Cleverly (2019–2020), Amanda Milling (2020–2021), Oliver Dowden (2021–2022), and Andrew Stephenson (2022) before resigning on 5 September 2022. In 2018, Elliot was appointed by Michael Gove, the secretary of state for the environment, as the UK government's first Food Surplus and Waste Champion. Elliot is the co-founder of the Quintessentially Group, a global luxury concierge service, and the co-founder of Hawthorn Advisors, a communications consultancy based in London. He is a nephew of Queen Camilla.
Early life
Elliot was born and raised in Dorset, England. He is the son of Simon Elliot, a Dorset landowner, and Annabel Elliot (née Shand), an interior designer and antiques dealer. He has two sisters. His mother is the sister of Queen Camilla, and Mark Shand. His paternal grandparents were Air Chief Marshal Sir William Elliot and Rosemary Chancellor, daughter of Sir John Chancellor. His maternal grandparents were Major Bruce Shand and the Hon. Rosalind Cubitt. Elliot was educated at Eton College and the University of Bristol, graduating with a BSc in Politics and Economics.
Career
Elliot is the co-founder of Quintessentially Group, a luxury lifestyle group with a 24-hour global concierge service, which he started in London in December 2000. The company has boasted about how it serves wealthy Russian clients, which includes opening an office in Russia and creating a "dedicated Russian team". After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the company deleted its webpage that boasted about serving Russian elite clients.
He is a regular contributor to the Financial Times, The New York Times and Country Life amongst other publications.
Elliot was included in the Evening Standard's Progress 1000 list, named as one of 'London's most influential people 2016 - Business Brains'. He was the executive producer of the award-winning documentary Fire in Babylon.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).