Boris Johnson accused of hiding meetings with Russian oligarchs
By Jim Cusick and Peter Geoghegan:
Labour has accused Boris Johnson of deliberately hiding details of meetings at his country residence, Chequers. A source with links to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) told openDemocracy that there were “internal concerns” about Chequers being used as an “undocumented” channel for Conservative Party business.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said it was “deeply concerning” that vital transparency data was being covered up to avoid scrutiny of who the prime minister was entertaining.
Rayner said: “What has the prime minister got to hide? With questions raised about Boris Johnson’s secret meetings with Russian oligarchs, it is crucial that the Cabinet Office releases this data to the public.”
The Ministerial Code states that Chequers should not be used for party political work. When the prime minister hosts Conservative Party or personal events at Chequers it should be at his expense with, as the code states, “no cost falling to the public purse”.
Details of guests who visited Chequers and Chevening, the foreign secretary’s grace and favour estate, were previously routinely published, but the practice appears to have ended shortly after David Cameron won a Conservative majority in 2015.
In a recent response to a parliamentary question about the publication of Chequers visitors, Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis pointed to official transparency data that has not been updated since December that year.
The prime minister has been criticised for his relationship with Evgeny Lebedev, the Russian-born media mogul. Johnson reportedly overrode security concerns to give Lebedev a seat in the House of Lords.
Shortly before Boris Johnson won the Conservative leadership contest and became prime minister in 2019, openDemocracy published the first full details of his visits to Lebedev’s villa in Umbria, Italy. This week Labour wrote to the Home Office asking if any record of this meeting was kept.
openDemocracy has previously revealed that, in March 2020, Lebedev and Johnson had a “personal” meeting just days before the COVID-19 lockdown.
Boris plays by his own rules. If we did not know at the beginning, we know it now
One Conservative MP, serially critical of Johnson’s record as prime minister, told openDemocracy: “Boris plays by his own rules. If we did not know at the beginning, we know it now. He is reluctant to use his own money in anything connected to his role as PM.”
Johnson has form when it comes to delaying the release of potentially damaging information.
In March 2019, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) examined Russian interference in British politics. The 50-page ‘Russia Report’ was sent to Johnson in Number 10 in October. It was eventually published, heavily redacted, in July 2020.
The Russia Report found that “a lot of Russians with very close links to Putin” were “well integrated into the UK business and social scene”. Boris Johnson refused to act on its conclusion that the government must “take the necessary measures to… challenge the impunity of Putin-linked elites”.
Although it is illegal for any Russian national to donate to a UK political party, those with dual UK-Russian status, or UK nationals with significant links to Putin’s Kremlin, have donated to the Conservative Party in recent years. Labour claims that Russian-linked donors have given close to £2m to the Conservatives since Johnson became leader.
Prime ministers have often entertained guests at Chequers. The last transparency release from David Cameron’s time in office showed that, between October and December 2015, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, President Xi Jinping of China, and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, all visited Chequers.
But no full lists of those Cameron entertained at Chequers were published. During Cameron’s time in government, this lack of transparency was criticised by the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Sir Alistair Graham. He said the public “had a right to be suspicious” and that partial lists risked damaging public trust in the government.
The Cabinet Office was approached for comment but had yet to respond at the time of publication.
If you want to boycott Russian oligarch-owned organisations – start with the Tory party
By TruePublica:
The Conservative party and most specifically this Prime Minister has betrayed the country, this much is now evident. To be fair, it’s been going on for quite a few years now, but the truth is this – they let an enemy in through the front door and now we are paying for that crime.
Irrespective of your rosette colour or your views on all political matters – on public health, education, policing and especially that of Brexit – we have all been betrayed by your government. These observations have emerged on social media, it’s not as though some of the general public is not aware.
The British government have been warned for years that Putin was a serious threat to the British way of life. And yet, his crooked subordinates were allowed to infect our system of government with bribery and corruption.
What there was of the so-called Russia Report – we know the security services gave their warnings. On Page 15 of that report, the intelligence service reports that – “The UK is clearly a target for Russia’s disinformation campaigns and political influence operations and must therefore equip itself to counter such efforts.” This was used to great effect to secure Brexit. We know this. To deny it is wrong. And what was that effect? It destabilised the European Union, pitted allies against each other, severely weakened the United Kingdom and put a wedge through society – and that is what Putin paid for. Do you not see that now?
Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, most of the entire cabinet – in all about one in ten of all Tory MP’s have accepted cash from Putin’s cronies. This government took advantage of that cash, took advantage of these disinformation campaigns and political influence operations – simply to secure their own power. They did this because they had no real compelling narrative to secure it otherwise.
Page 8 of that report says – “Russia considers the UK one of its top Western intelligence targets: while we may not experience the level and type of threat that countries on Russia’s borders suffer, witnesses have suggested that we would sit just behind the US and NATO in any priority list.” This means Russia had put the UK very high on its priority list of political targets – and so it took aim. And it succeeded with little resistance from those that govern us today. Why would any citizen want such an unbelievable lack of judgement from its government to be making decisions when defending the ideology of democracy against the very people who severely weakened it through bribery in the first place?
On Page 12, the intelligence services write the following ominous words – “Since 2014, Russia has carried out malicious cyber activity in order to assert itself aggressively in a number of spheres, including attempting to influence the democratic elections of other countries. Russia’s cyber capability, when combined with its willingness to deploy it in a malicious capacity, is a matter of grave concern, and poses an immediate and urgent threat to our national security.” So the people who sit in No10 Downing Street knew all along of this threat to our national security and welcomed that very same threat with open arms. Do you think they should be sitting in Downing Street right now?
“A foreign power seeking to interfere in our democratic processes – whether it is successful or not – cannot be taken lightly.” This was from the same page. One wonders if Boris Johnson and his acolytes can read because they didn’t take this lightly. In fact, they didn’t do anything except become overpowered by a hostile foreign power. At our most charitable it might be possible to say they were duped. Who wants naive stooges in government, especially in times like these?
The security and intelligence services made a point of saying that the EU referendum was “a case study” for the failure of the government to take this situation seriously. You could take this one step further and say the current government accepted that risk in order to be elected – power at all cost.
Page 15 shone a light on exactly what we are seeing in the papers every day right now – the backtracking of their position. “Whilst the Russian elite have developed ties with a number of countries in recent years, it would appear that the UK has been viewed as a particularly favourable destination for Russian oligarchs and their money.” Don’t forget that this report was eight months in the making and was stalled by Boris Johnson because he knew what was in it. This information was not new information when it was published last year.
“The links of the Russian elite to the UK – especially where this involves business and investment – provide access to UK companies and political figures, and thereby a means for broad Russian influence in the UK. To a certain extent, this cannot be untangled and the priority now must be to mitigate the risk and ensure that, where hostile activity is uncovered, the tools exist to tackle it at source.” This statement on page 23 makes it plain and simple to understand. The government has allowed mass infiltration of corrupt money to influence all aspects of British life. And it will not be easy to rid ourselves of it all.
Since 2014, the British security and intelligence services have been consistently warnings about Russia’s political activities in the UK. These national security services made it plain to understand to the government that it was their job to highlight these threats and the government were to make decisions and act. The general public was not made aware of these hostile foreign state attacks by the Her Majesties Government.
“The Agencies have emphasised that they see their role in this as providing secret intelligence as context for other organisations, as part of a wider HMG response: they do not view themselves as holding primary responsibility for the active defence of the UK’s democratic processes from hostile foreign interference, and indeed during the course of our Inquiry appeared determined to distance themselves from any suggestion that they might have a prominent role in relation to the democratic process itself, noting the caution which had to be applied in relation to intrusive powers in the context of a democratic process. They informed us that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) holds primary responsibility for disinformation campaigns and that the Electoral Commission has responsibility for the overall security of democratic processes.” All of this is currently the responsibility of Nadine Dorries. Yes, Nadine Dorries! The report did go further and say that the government, in general, are responsible.
If you want further evidence that this government is colluding with a foreign power such as Russia – look no further than the conclusion of the Russia Report when it talks about Scottish independence.
“There has been credible open source commentary suggesting that Russia undertook influence campaigns in relation to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. However, at the time (REDACTED). It appears that (REDACTED) what some commentators have described as potentially the first post-Soviet Russian interference in a Western democratic process. We note that – almost five years on (REDACTED).” The redactions tell you what the intelligence services were saying – that it was extremely serious. But the government decided that the general public should not know just how serious – it was after all, just too damning, obviously.
“It appears that the Intelligence Community did learn lessons from the US experience, and HMG recognised the Russian threat to the UK’s democratic processes and political discourse. In May 2017, the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) concluded that (REDACTED) and that (REDACTED). Had the relevant parts of the Intelligence Community conducted a similar threat assessment prior to the referendum, it is inconceivable that they would not have reached the same conclusion as to Russian intent, which might then have led them to take action to protect the process.” But that’s the point isn’t it – they did know and deliberately decided not to protect the process of democracy in Britain. How can this be interpreted as anything other than a failure (in one way or another) of public duty by the very people who abused the weaknesses of democracy for self-interest – not national interest or indeed national security?
Page after page of redactions was how the Russia Report didn’t explode into something completely different on the front pages of the mainstream media. There is so much more that those in government know about Russia’s involvement in British politics, in distorting our way of life and the toxic narrative they have both delivered. Don’t forget, the binary form of politics we have today is the result of our own government dividing us. The information about swinging election results using illicit money from enemy states is all out there in the open. They chose power over our own national security and national interest. How’s that for taking back control?
Do you not see now who we have in the heart of government? Puppets. People who got into power by deception and by the money of our corrupt enemies. There is only one way to correct this. Johnson and all those tainted (and there’s a lot of them) must leave politics and never allowed a way back. A general election should be called and a new EU referendum should take place. And anyone partaking in illegal financing of our democracy should spend a few years behind bars.
And don’t forget – the very people in power are now legislating to silence you (just as Putin is doing to his people) peacefully protesting on the streets with this in mind. To them, you are a threat to national security in their eyes. This is Boris Johnson’s government – shaped by Putin.
For all of the rhetoric of this government – don’t forget whose side Johnson is on. He has given Russia’s second-biggest bank, VTB Bank, a 30-day reprieve from UK sanctions. A top official at the bank, Barin Yucemen, has given the Conservative Party more than £44,000 since 2018. Last September VBT wrote on its own website – “VTB Capital can expect to be informally crowned Russia’s investment banking state champion by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at its inaugural investor forum starting tomorrow in Moscow.” VTB Bank is Putin’s bank – according to VTB that is. It makes you wonder exactly whose side Boris Johnson is on doesn’t it!
The Russia Report (LINK)
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