‘Quit now’ over ex-spy meeting
LABOUR is demanding Boris Johnson quit immediately because they say he poses a national security risk while he stays in No10.
It follows the PM’s admission he met a former Russian spy without officials or his security team present.
Now Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have written to new Cabinet Office minister Kit Malthouse demanding a full probe.
They want an MI5 damage assessment into a meeting between Mr Johnson and ex-KGB officer Alexander Lebedev at son Evgeny’s Italian holiday home in April 2018. Mr Lebedev senior is sanctioned by Canada over the Ukraine war.
Mr Johnson was Foreign Secretary at the time and Britain was in the grip of the fallout from the Salisbury Novichok attack. Ms Rayner said: “If the PM is found to have breached security protocols he has no option but to leave office immediately and face full consequences of the law.
“He poses an ongoing threat to national security. This murky affair has been covered up for too long.”
Labour want MI5 to examine the PM’s phone to see if it was bugged and check no data from a NATO summit was compromised.
Mr Johnson later handed Evgeny, who owns the Evening Standard, a peerage.
Last week the PM told the Commons Liaison Committee he did visit Alexander Lebedev. Foreign Office records show the PM arrived with a mystery guest but left on his own.
Ms Rayner and Ms Cooper want the guest identified.
No10 said: “Boris Johnson, as Foreign Secretary and as PM, has led the way in standing up to Russian aggression.”