Media baron’s free speech vow to peers
RUSSIAN media mogul Evgeny Lebedev pledged to defend free speech as he made his parliamentary debut in the House of Lords yesterday.
The independent crossbench peer, who owns the London Evening Standard and The Independent newspapers, warned that freedom of expression has ‘rarely’ been so under assault.
Lord Lebedev said that while he considers himself British he is also Russian, meaning ‘I can never be casual about liberty, about free speech, or about the rule of law’.
He added: ‘Freedom of expression needs its champions. In the postwar era it has rarely been under assault as it is now.
‘I intend to join hands with noble Lords who can see that, and are determined to fight it. A democratic liberal nation, strong, healthy and free. I pledge that everything I do in this house will be to defend and further these principles.’
The 41-year- old Moscow-born businessman is a long-time friend of Boris Johnson and was nominated by the Prime Minister for a life peerage last year.
Making his maiden speech remotely to the upper chamber, Lord Lebedev spoke about the important contribution of the Press in public life. He joked that he would be ‘able to teach the House how to make a small fortune: you start with a large fortune – and buy a newspaper’.
Citing the late newspaper baron Lord Thomson of Fleet – who was quoted as describing television as a licence to print money – Lord Lebedev said: ‘Newspaper publishing also seems to me like printing money... and then giving it away outside tube stations.’
But he added: ‘Luckily I passionately believe in the contribution the Press makes to public life.’