Boris Johnson has denied that he intervened to secure a peerage for Evgeny Lebedev after intelligence services warned it would be a security risk, arguing that such suggestions could be motivated by anti-Russian prejudice.
Answering questions during a brief TV clip on Monday, the prime minister did not, however, deny meeting the Russian-British newspaper owner at the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2020, shortly before the peerage was formalised.
The prime minister, asked if he had overruled the concerns over Lebedev, who was made a peer in July 2020, said: “That is simply incorrect.
“But what I can tell you is that it suits Putin’s agenda to try to characterise this as a struggle between the west and Russia. It suits his agenda to say that we in Nato countries are anti-Russian, that European countries are now anti-Russian. And it’s very, very, very important that we get the message over that we’re not anti-Russian.”
Keir Starmer has called for parliament’s intelligence and security committee to investigate the circumstances around Lebedev’s elevation to the Lords, following a fresh report Johnson had intervened.
Such a move “would obviously be extraordinary, but that’s not the case”, Johnson said. Asked if he had met Lebedev, a longtime friend of his, in March 2020, Johnson ignored the question but did not deny it.
“It is very, very important that this should not turn into a general sense that we are against Russians, that any Russian living in the UK, any Russian who contributes to UK society should be suddenly under suspicion. That suits Putin’s agenda,” he said.
Johnson’s spokesperson said all peerages were vetted by the House of Lords appointments commission (Holac) and that in the case of Lebedev “this was done entirely properly and correctly”.
The controversy around Lebedev’s appointment was reignited with a Sunday Times story headlined: “Lebedev got peerage after spies dropped warning,” which followed previous reporting in the Guardian and Byline Times.
Johnson’s role in the appointment of Lebedev to a peerage has come under repeated scrutiny. While Downing Street did not overrule security warnings in going through with the nomination, sources close to the committee have told the Guardian they felt “bounced” into agreeing to his appointment at the time.
Lebedev’s nomination was initially dismissed by Holac in March 2020 after the security services raised concerns about his father, a former KGB officer. It eventually went through in July after his name was pushed forward again by Downing Street.
On the second occasion, as part of what was described as a “to and fro”, the security services’ advice to Holac was reframed when further context was provided, prompting the appointments commission to withdraw its objections to Lebedev. In their confirmation letter, commission members are said to have called on Johnson to examine Russian influence in the House of Lords.
Defending the peerage on Monday, the Foreign Office minister James Cleverly argued that Alexander Lebedev’s activities were not relevant.
“My father was a former chartered surveyor, but I’m not. So what your father did for work is I’m not completely sure totally relevant,” Cleverly told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Since taking up his peerage in December 2020, Lebedev has spoken only once and never voted. Cleverly argued: “There are lots of members of the House of Lords who are not active members of the House of Lords. It rather flies in the face of this accusation that somehow he is distorting British politics if he is not voting on British laws.”
Asked whether it was disappointing that Lebedev had barely been in the Lords, Johnson’s spokesperson said: “I haven’t asked him that specific question but many have roles outside parliament and you’ll be aware of the wide-ranging roles of this individual, which you are well aware of.”
