Sir Ehud “Udi” Sheleg (; born November 1955) is a British-Israeli businessman, art dealer and political figure.

Early life

Sheleg was born in

Tel Aviv, Israel Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

but is quoted saying “I was brought up, albeit in Israel, with the sentiment of very strong ties to Britain. In the family of nations, this has to be my favourite one. Second to my homeland, of course". His father served with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Career

Sheleg is a director of the

Halcyon Gallery Halcyon Gallery is an art gallery in London. Founded in 1982 in Birmingham, it displays work from established and emerging contemporary artists, particularly impressionism and pop art. Location The gallery is located on New Bond Street in Mayfa ...

in London. It is 50% controlled through a

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = " Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

company by the Tov Settlement, the Sheleg

family trust A discretionary trust, in the trust law of England, Australia, Canada and other common law jurisdictions, is a trust where the beneficiaries and/or their entitlements to the trust fund are not fixed, but are determined by the criteria set out in ...

. He donated over £3.4 million to the Conservative Party, between 2017 and 2019. In July 2019 he was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...

in the

2019 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours The 2019 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours are honours awarded following the July 2019 resignation of the Prime Minister, Theresa May. The life peerages and other honours were issued as two separate lists by the Cabinet Office on 10 September ...

and was named by Boris Johnson as the new

Treasurer of the Conservative Party The office of Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. G ...

. In April 2021 he completed his tenure as Treasurer and was succeeded by Malik Karim.

Investigations

In 2022, Labour Party Chair

Anneliese Dodds Anneliese Jane Dodds (born 16 March 1978) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician and public policy analyst serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, and Chair of the Labour Party since 2021. She was Shadow Chancell ...

used her parliamentary privilege in The House of Commons to announce that she had written to her Conservative counterpart

Oliver Dowden Oliver James Dowden (born 1 August 1978) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster since October 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hertsmere since 2015. Dowden served in the Johnson gover ...

to raise questions over Sheleg’s 2018 donation to the Conservative party. The source for her allegation was a

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

story, based on the illegal disclosure of a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR). The article claimed Sheleg’s donation came from his Ukrainian father-in-law, Sergei Kopytov, as part of Russian money infiltrating the UK. However, this claim was investigated by the

National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and in ...

with the NCA’s Director of Operations, Steve Rodhouse, stating “As you will be aware, provided a donation comes from a permissible source, and was the decision of the donor themselves, it is permitted under PPERA. This remains the case even if the donor’s funds derived from a gift from an overseas individual”. The

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

also investigated the claim and has publicly stated that they have ‘looked into the donation’ and that there is ‘no evidence’ that the party has broken any rules and that they have ‘no plans to investigate further’. Despite the claim being investigated and dismissed by two separate bodies, the statements made by Anneliese Dodds and The New York Times are yet to be rescinded.

Personal life

Sheleg has been married twice: his first wife was English, and he married his second in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheleg Ehud 1955 births British Jews Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Conservative Party (UK) people Knights Bachelor Living people People from Tel Aviv Israeli art dealers Art dealers from London Israeli emigrants to the United Kingdom