Lebedev allegations must not turn into witch-hunt, says PM
CRITICISM of Lord Lebedev’s peerage “suits Putin’s agenda”, Boris Johnson has claimed, as he denied overriding security concerns from Britain’s spy agencies about the appointment.
The Prime Minister yesterday responded to allegations that he had personally intervened to support the peerage of Lord Lebedev, the Russian son of a KGB officer, after concerns from MI5, MI6 and the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
He said that while the allegations would “obviously be extraordinary” if they were true, it was “not the case” that he had interfered in the process.
The Sunday Times reported that the spy agencies had raised security concerns with the appointments commission, which had communicated them to Downing Street, but that their opposition was dropped after Mr Johnson described the concerns as “anti-russianism”.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister said it “suits [Vladimir] Putin’s agenda to try to characterise this as a struggle between the West and Russia” and to sow division between the Government and Russians in the UK.
In apparent support of Lord Lebedev, who is a longstanding friend and political ally of Mr Johnson, he added: “We must not play Putin’s game and somehow turn this into a witch-hunt against every Russian in the UK.”
Yesterday, James Cleverly, a foreign office minister, denied allegations that Lord Lebedev, who owns the London Evening Standard and The Independent, had an undue influence on the Government by pointing out the peer’s poor record of attendance in the House of Lords. “It flies in the face of this accusation that he is distorting British politics if he is not voting on British laws – that is something which a lot of members of the House of Lords don’t do,” he said.
Labour has called for Parliament’s intelligence and security committee, which has statutory oversight of the spy agencies, to investigate.
Both the peer and No10 deny the suggestion that his appointment was the subject of political interference. Downing Street yesterday insisted the process was conducted “properly and correctly”.
Separately, it was claimed Lord Lebedev offered to act
‘It flies in the face of this accusation that Lebedev is distorting British politics’
as a “back channel” between Mr Johnson and Mr Putin in the wake of the Skripal poisonings. According to Tortoise Media’s Slow Newscast, the peer said he would act as a go-between for Britain and Russia, and made the offer during Mr Johnson’s visit to his home in Umbria in 2018, after which the Prime Minister was pictured at an Italian airport “looking hungover”.
Downing Street did not respond to a request for comment but a spokesman for Lord Lebedev said the claims were “total nonsense”.
The allegations over the peerage have prompted calls for reform of the appointments process for the Lords, while politicians with remaining connections to the Russian business and political worlds are under increasing pressure to cut their ties.