Kemi Badenoch is under pressure to act on the revelations that her shadow attorney general is representing the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, despite UK sanctions against him.
David Wolfson, a Tory peer, is part of the legal team representing Abramovich as he attempts to recover billions in frozen assets he owns in the Channel islands.
Abramovich is caught up in a legal battle with the government of Jersey after it launched an investigation into the source of more than £5.3bn of assets linked to him and held there.
Ministers have said that the case in Jersey is delaying the release of £2.5bn from Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea football club, which the UK government wants to use to help rebuild Ukraine after Russia’s invasion.
Earlier this month Keir Starmer issued a final warning to Abramovich to release the funds from the Chelsea FC sale within 90 days or face court action. The prime minister told MPs the money would be converted into a foundation for humanitarian causes in Ukraine.
Labour has turned its fire on Wolfson this week, arguing that his work for Abramovich while he is a shadow minister created an unacceptable conflict of interest.
Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, demanded that Badenoch disclose whether she was aware Wolfson was due to represent Abramovich in the Jersey case and make clear that “nobody representing a man who is currently under British sanctions can serve around her shadow cabinet table”.
Turley accused the Tory leader of “allowing her top team to moonlight second jobs that are in clear conflict with British and Ukrainian interests” and said it was “a totally irresponsible position for His Majesty’s official opposition to be in”.
Jake Richards, a justice minister, said on Monday that Wolfson should either quit the shadow cabinet or leave Abramovich’s legal team.
In a letter to Badenoch he asked whether Wolfson had recused himself from party policy regarding Abramovich’s assets, and said his ability to advise her on the matter was “clearly compromised”.
The Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, an activist group, criticised Wolfson’s role in representing Abramovich and said it raised “profound questions about the Conservative party and its long‑standing entanglement with Russian wealth”.
A Conservative party spokesperson said: “Lord Wolfson is instructed in ongoing legal proceedings in Jersey. He is not instructed on the Chelsea FC matter.”
“The Conservative party led the way on supporting Ukraine and we remain committed to their cause. To suggest anything else is just Labour sinking to new depths.”
The Tories accused Labour ministers of “rank hypocrisy” and said that Richard Hermer, the attorney general, had previously “acted for Gerry Adams and involved himself in the Shamima Begum case”.
In the past, the Conservatives have criticised Hermer over the clients he represented during his 20-year career as a human rights barrister and called for a Whitehall investigation into potential conflicts of interest. The demands were dismissed by the cabinet secretary, Chris Wormald.
In response, ministers have pointed to the “cab-rank rule”, which states that barristers should not discriminate between clients and should accept cases they are qualified for irrespective of their personal views.
In his letter to Badenoch, Richards wrote that while the cab-rank rule “must always be respected … it cannot remove conflicts of interest, or eliminate the responsibility of politicians to avoid such conflicts”.
