MP calling for World Cup ban was the target of ‘gay smears’

A LABOUR MP who yesterday called for the World Cup to be taken away from Russia was once the victim of baseless rumours about his sexuality – which were blamed on Moscow’s security services.

Stephen Kinnock, who said Britain should ask Fifa to postpone the tournament to next year and have it hosted by another country in retaliation for the Salisbury poisoning, was left bewildered when the stories started circulating in 2011.

They came just days before his wife, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, became the first female prime minister of Denmark.

Ms Thorning-Schmidt was forced to deny that Mr Kinnock was gay after the rumours became an election talking point.

‘It’s really uncomfortable, also for my family and my children,’ she said. ‘It’s grotesque.’

A diplomatic source told The Mail on Sunday that suspicion for the smear has fallen on shadowy figures in the Russian intelligence community.

The source said it dated back to when Mr Kinnock was embroiled in a diplomatic row as head of the British Council in St Petersburg. Relations between London and Moscow were at their previous lowest ebb following the 2006 poisoning of Russian exile Alexander Litvinenko in London.

In December 2007, the Kremlin ordered the British Council to shut its offices in St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg, saying it was ‘operating illegally’ within Russia.

Days later, Mr Kinnock was detained for alleged ‘drunken driving’. He declined to take a breath test, claiming diplomatic status, and left Russia the following day to be with his wife and two children in Copenhagen. The Foreign Office condemned it as part of ‘a pattern of intimidation’ by Russia’s security services.

The Aberavon MP, the son of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, said the claims about his sexuality were ‘nonsense’.

He said yesterday that Fifa should be asked whether it was appropriate to mount a celebration of football in a state suspected of being behind the deployment of a nerve agent in the UK.

‘I think we should seriously consider making a co-ordinated approach to Fifa about moving the World Cup to 2019 and have it hosted in another country,’ he said. ‘Putin has invested billions of roubles in the World Cup and sees it as an opportunity to showcase his regime to the world.’

Theresa May has said no Ministers or members of the Royal Family will attend the tournament.