Boris Johnson was warned about granting a peerage to his close friend Evgeny Lebedev two years ago by British intelligence.
According to a report in the Sunday Times, the head of MI6 held security concerns over the Russian oligarch – who has previously defended Vladimir Putin and expressed doubt over the murder of a Kremlin critic in London – as long as a decade ago. Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer expressed alarm over the article’s allegations and said he had written to the House of Lords Appointment Commission chair Lord Brew to raise concerns over the Prime Minister’s decision to grant Lord Lebedev a peerage.
The Labour leader questioned the judgement of Mr Johnson for nominating to the House of Lords “someone who has promoted the worst conspiracy theories and defences of Vladimir Putin”. Sir Keir, the former Director of Public Prosecutions, accused the Prime Minister of disregarding the security service’s “serious reservations” about Lord Lebedev.
