Celebrity management business Champions (海角视频) Plc has responded to claims in a Channel 4 programme that it could arrange for the Prime Minister鈥檚 father to support a charity.
Dispatches set up a fake charity and used undercover filming to approach different agencies about paying celebrities for their support.
Among them was Costock-based Champions (海角视频) Plc, which has now rejected any suggestion that it acted inappropriately.
Posing as a charity named 鈥楥leaning Up Plastic Pollution in Africa鈥, or CUPPA, the Dispatches team claimed to have been sent a glossy brochure with details of more than 20 鈥渂ig-name鈥 celebrities and the fees Champions said it would charge to be a charity ambassador or attend an event.
In a recorded phone call, a Champions representative said to an undercover reporter: 鈥淲e obviously work with a lot of charities and, when it comes to celebrities, the majority of them are either patrons or ambassadors of charities which they give their time free of charge.
鈥淏ut then, for other charities, they do a slight discount on their corporate rate.鈥
Dispatches said the brochure included Stanley Johnson, the environmental campaigner, I鈥檓 a Celebrity contestant and father of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
It added that Dispatches was informed the fee for him to be CUPPA鈥檚 ambassador for a year would be 拢30,000-拢40,000.
Dispatches said it was initially told by Champions that Stanley Johnson wanted to be involved.
But the show said Mr Johnson insisted payment was never discussed with him and that, had it been, he wouldn鈥檛 have accepted.
It also said that, when they saw that CUPPA was not a registered charity, Mr Johnson鈥檚 PR team said he would not get involved.
In a statement, Mr Johnson鈥檚 lawyer told Dispatches he was proud of his unpaid charity work and, although Champions did not represent him, he had undertaken after-dinner engagements through the agency.
Mr Johnson was supplied by Champions as a guest speaker at the Leicester Mercury Business Executive of the Year Awards in 2019.
The statement added that, in view of the Dispatches programme, Mr Johnson no longer wished to be associated with the firm.
鈥淭he CUPPA campaign was presented to Mr Johnson as a worthy environmental project, hence his interest 鈥 but the work was never discussed, let alone a fee,鈥 added the lawyer.
Champions 鈥 which has event-managed Leicester Mercury Business Awards and Sports Awards for several years 鈥 said the vast majority of its charity engagements were free of charge.
Over the last three years, a spokesman added, it had given more than 10 per cent of its annual profits to charity.
In a statement to LeicestershireLive, Champions said it had asked its lawyers to look into the suggestions made in the show 鈥楥elebs For Sale: The Great Charity Scandal鈥.
鈥淯ndercover journalists working for the show鈥檚 makers secretly recorded Champions staff while seeking to create a narrative that celebrities 鈥 and those who represent them 鈥 were acting dishonourably,鈥 it added.
鈥淭hey acknowledged that no laws or regulations had been broken.
鈥淐hampions rejects entirely any suggestion that it, or the celebrities the company deals with, acted inappropriately in any way and will take whatever action is necessary to protect its reputation.鈥
The statement continued that the Dispatches team posed as representatives of an unnamed wealthy benefactor who was privately funding a launch party for a new charity.
鈥淭hey suggested there was a budget of between 拢50,000 and 拢100,000 to pay for celebrities to attend the event and boost its profile,鈥 it added.
鈥淐hampions attempted to assist by providing details of celebrities who might be approached to assess their potential interest.
鈥淎lthough, in this case, our clear understanding was that the funding was coming from a private individual and not from a charity, we have, in the past, assisted charities looking to work with celebrity clients.
鈥淚n such cases, many celebrities will waive or discount their fees.
鈥淚n fact, in the last two years alone, we have arranged free appearances by more than 400 celebrities at charitable events 鈥 and some of those have even gone on to become long-term ambassadors for the good causes involved.鈥
The Champions statement said it was disappointing that Dispatches had 鈥渁ttempted to paint Champions and its celebrity clients in such a negative and unfair way鈥.
鈥淐hampions has, in the last three years, helped raise 拢1.8 million for charities and in the last year donated around 10 per cent of its profits to good causes,鈥 the statement added.
