Labour calls for investigation of claims PM intervened to help get friend a peerage
Labour is calling for a parliamentary investigation into claims that Boris Johnson intervened to get his Russian billionaire friend Evgeny Lebedev a peerage, after security services initially recommended against it.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer today told the BBC that a Westminster committee should probe the “very concerning” case and that “there’s at least the suggestion that the government and the Prime Minister were warned that there was a national security risk in this particular appointment”.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper also wrote to Johnson today to call for the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to launch a probe into the allegation and for the PM to fully cooperate.
The Sunday Times reported that security services had flagged concerns in 2020 about Lebedev’s connections to the Kremlin and the source of his wealth, after he had been put up for a peerage by the Prime Minister.
Mi5 and Mi6 provided information to the the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac), with the resulting recommendation that Lebedev should be denied the peerage
Lebedev, who owns The Independent and Evening Standard, got most of his wealth from his father – an ex-KGB agent and media mogul in Russia with close ties to Vladimir Putin.
Johnson reportedly intervened in the process and told Holac that the concerns raised were “anti-Russianism” – shortly after the recommendation was dropped and Lebedev was given a peerage.
Johnson and Lebedev have been friends for many years, with the PM going to a party thrown by the Russian billionaire on the night of the 2019 General Election.
When asked about the story by the BBC, deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said: “There is a very strict and stringent process when anyone is granted a peerage.
“This was done properly and correctly and we have procedures and systems in place to make sure it is.”