Black Rod in warning over repairs delay

BORIS JOHNSON has clashed publicly with his Russian counterpart over Crimea and Moscow’s alleged cyber attacks on the West as the two men met in Moscow.

Sergey Lavrov denied claims the Kremlin had interfered in democratic elections online and accused Mr Johnson of being a “hostage” of untrue Western narratives on the issue.

But in a series of extraordinarily frank exchanges, Mr Johnson insisted there was “abundant evidence” of Russian interference in polls in the US, Germany, Denmark and France.

When the Russian Foreign Minister told a press conference in Moscow that Mr Johnson himself had confirmed Russia had not interfered in the UK’s election and Brexit referendum, the Foreign Secretary interrupted to add: “Not successfully.”

The clash came after Mr Johnson issued a warning to the Kremlin that Britain was “prepared and able” to respond in kind to cyber attacks.

Speaking after more than an hour of talks on the first visit to Russia by a British Foreign Secretary for five years, both men acknowledged that relations between the two countries were at their worst for many years.

Nevertheless they accepted their countries had a duty to work together as fellow permanent members of the UN Security Council on issues affecting global security like Syria, Iran and North Korea.

The two men insisted they had established a level of personal trust, with Mr Johnson joking that he had even handed his coat with “everything in my pockets, secret or otherwise” to Mr Lavrov when he arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.

Mr Lavrov joked back: “I can say that there was nothing in the pockets of Boris’s coat,” to which Mr Johnson responded in surprise: “So you have searched it already?”

However, when Mr Johnson rejected Mr Lavrov’s denial that Russia had attempted to interfere in British polls, the Russian Foreign Minister retorted: “He is afraid if he doesn’t contradict me his reputation is going to be ruined.”

Mr Johnson said Russian attempts to interfere in Britain’s referendums and elections “whatever they might be” had not been successful, adding that if they had, “that would have been an entirely different matter”.

Mr Lavrov said the evidence produced so far of Russian attempts at interference amounted to no more than the spending of “a few kopecks” on social media adverts.

“I think you have made all this up in your Western community and unfortunately right now you are hostage to this subject, it is very difficult for you to climb down from the fence you have climbed.”

He criticised Britain for cutting off ties with the FSB security agency over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London, complaining that UK authorities had refused to hand over information in the case. He said the takeover of Crimea had been approved by a referendum of its citizens, unlike the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

And he said that UK Government criticism of politicians who speak to Russian media outlets like the RT TV channel did not reflect well on the UK.

“We are concerned that the cradle of democracy, the United Kingdom, sees the vilifying of people for speaking to Russian media,” he said. “It doesn’t add to the good reputation of the Government, unfortunately.”

Earlier Mr Johnson was rebuked by his host for speaking in public about their differences. On the eve of the talks, Mr Johnson sent a blunt message to the Kremlin to stop its use of cyberspace to disrupt Western countries.

He said: “The UK is certainly prepared and able to respond, should we so desire.” A GRENFELL Tower-style disaster could happen at the Palace of Westminster unless urgent repair work is done, the outgoing holder of the Black Rod parliamentary post has said.

David Leakey is standing down after seven years in the role as the senior official responsible for maintaining order at the House of Lords.

He insisted major action needs to be undertaken quickly to avoid a potential catastrophe.

With a full-scale overhaul of the Palace of Westminster estimated to cost up to £4.3bn, Mr Leakey called on politicians to stop dragging things out and make a decision about what to do.

He told magazine: “I know what the risks are here. Knowing in detail that the expert recommendation is that you should do this quickly and now, not slowly over time in phases.

“I know that is necessary in order to prevent another Grenfell Tower happening here. And that’s the point.

“If we don’t learn the Grenfell lesson, this building could burn down, just like it did in 1834 when there was a decade of delay and procrastination about how or when to refurbish the building.

“We will again be accused of sitting on our hands.”