Britain: Government refuses to release intelligence report on Lebedev’s appointment to House of Lords

The British government refused to release the report received by the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson from the secret services before appointing the Russian tycoon Evgeny Lebedev in the House of Lords.

Johnson is under pressure over his friendship with Lebedev. In March, a Labor petition was passed by parliament asking for the details of the businessman’s appointment to the House of Lords to be made public.

Lebedev, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, said in March that the report should be made public and described allegations of his past as “merely implicit”.

The government, however, refused to release the information, citing “national security”.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has rekindled questions about the attribution of the title of Lord to Evgeny Lebedev, the son of Russian billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev. In March, the Sunday Times reported that Johnson, who has been friends with Lebedev since 2008, ignored concerns expressed by the Foreign Intelligence Service. Lebedev himself, who is a British citizen, recently stated that he did not pose the slightest threat to the security of the United Kingdom, citing articles in the Evening Standard, which he owns. The newspaper last week called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his army from Russia.

In a statement, Prime Minister Michael Ellis said he could not disclose the information requested by parliament for security reasons. The government released a 1,880-word statement explaining why it could not release the intelligence report and other documents. Ellis claimed today that disclosing the information would undermine the role of the House of Lords Appointments Committee and could be used in the future to investigate other appointments.

Labor Vice President Angela Reiner accused Johnson of “contempt of parliament.” “It looks like a cover-up and it smells like a cover-up, because it’s a cover-up,” he said.

Lebedev, who owns the Evening Standard and Independent newspapers, became a lifelong member of the House of Lords in July 2020 when he was named Baron Lebedev of Hampton in the Richmond von Thames and Siberia districts of the Russian Federation. According to the Sunday Times, in March of that year, the appointments committee asked Johnson’s office to reconsider the appointment after receiving intelligence that Lebedev was a potential security risk. Johnson then met with Lebedev and asked for more information from the security services, which provided him with sufficient information to address his concerns, according to the newspaper.

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ