Sue back at Baftas
SUE Perkins will host the Bafta TV awards in May. The former Great British Bake Off presenter, left, will return to the Royal Festival Hall for the ceremony after making her presenting debut last year. BORIS Johnson has dismissed as “ludicrous” claims the Brexit campaign he backed broke election spending rules, amid calls for the police to investigate.
The claims centre around Vote Leave – the officially designated campaign in the 2016 referendum – and its links to the BeLeave group which it helped fund.
Shahmir Sanni, who worked on the campaign, claimed Vote Leave used BeLeave to get around strict spending limits set by the Electoral Commission.
Vote Leave has strongly denied wrongdoing and said the £625,000 donated to BeLeave was within the rules.
But Mr Sanni told Channel 4 News: “I know that Vote Leave cheated ... I know that people have been lied to and that the referendum wasn’t legitimate.”
Cabinet ministers Mr Johnson, Michael Gove and Chris Grayling were among senior politicians involved in the Vote Leave campaign. Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson said Channel 4 and Observer stories based on Mr Sanni’s testimony were “utterly ludicrous” and Vote Leave “won fair and square – and legally”.
Mr Gove, who was campaign co-chair for Vote Leave, said the result of the referendum must be respected. “I respect the motives and understand the feelings of those who voted to remain in the EU,” he said. “But 17.4 million opted to leave in a free and fair vote and the result must be respected.”
Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson said: “Theresa May needs to make sure the Electoral Commission has the resources to fully investigate the allegations made that there was criminal collusion.
“The people that led these campaigns are now senior Cabinet members, and I think we need to make sure that they were not aware of what was going on, and that’s why I think the resources are needed, and if needs be the police should be resourced to investigate as well.”
The allegations centre on Mr Sanni’s claims that BeLeave was controlled by Vote Leave rather than an independent campaign. Mr Sanni said: “In effect they used BeLeave to over-spend, and not just by a small amount ... Almost two-thirds of a million pounds makes all the difference and it wasn’t legal.”
Mr Sanni was in a relationship with senior Vote Leave figure Stephen Parkinson – now Theresa May’s political secretary – at the time of the referendum and claimed through his lawyers he was “outed” by the Number 10 aide in the run-up to the Channel 4 disclosure.
Mr Parkinson said he was “saddened” by the “factually incorrect and misleading” statements by Mr Sanni and his lawyers.
He said: “I cannot see how our relationship, which was ongoing at the time of the referendum and which is a material fact in the allegations being made, could have remained private once Shahmir decided to publicise his false claims in this way.”
Mr Parkinson said he had no responsibility for digital campaigning or donations on the Vote Leave campaign and was “confident that I stayed within the law and strict spending rules at all times”.