Tom Burgis tells us things we already know, but he does it with great verve, removing the mask of his prey, the lawyer/ philanthropist/ financier, Mohamed Amersi. Burgis connects the dots between Amersi’s donations to the Conservative Party and his close association with then chairman, Ben Elliot, who also happens to run Quintessentially, the horribly titled service provider to the rich and famous. (As well as being Camila’s nephew.) I’d quite like Burgis to do a book about Ben Eliot, a figure who has managed to turn Britain’s creepy reputation for class excellence into a global brand, when about all we have to left to sell, having butchered all our industries, is a commodified version of our class hierarchy. There aren’t any great revelations in the book, but the way Burgis stands up to his subject’s legal bullying is impressive and the sly verbatim accounts of the conversations he had with Amersi reveal the crude power-plays that underpin his subject’s craven grab for power and money. Sic transit gloria mundi.
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