PM denies intervening to override security concerns to secure peerage for Evgeny Lebedev

Boris Johnson has denied accusations that he intervened to override security concerns about granting a peerage to Russian-born media mogul Lord Evgeny Lebedev.

The prime minister said the allegations were "simply incorrect" after he was urged to tell a powerful parliamentary committee everything he knows about Lord Lebedev's elevation to the House of Lords.

Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper wrote to Mr Johnson following a report in The Sunday Times which alleged that security services withdrew an assessment that granting a peerage to the Moscow-born son of an ex-KGB agent posed a national security risk, after the PM personally intervened.

When asked about the reports on Monday, Mr Johnson told reporters "that would obviously be extraordinary” if the security services had deemed Lord Lebedev to be a risk and the PM had intervened to ensure the peerage was granted - “but that’s not the case”.

He also sidestepped a question about whether he met Lord Lebedev in March 2020, at the height of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, to discuss the peerage.

The PM answers questions on Lord Lebedev's peerage after Labour called for an investigation:

When asked if he had intervened to secure the peerage, the PM told reporters: “That is simply incorrect…

"But what I can tell you is 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 the UK, that we in Nato countries, are anti-Russia, European countries are now anti-Russian.

“It’s very, very, very important that we get the message over that we’re not anti-Russian, we’re not against Russians. Our quarrel is simply with the regime and the aggression of Vladimir Putin.”

He added: "We must not play Putin's game and somehow turn this into a witch hunt against every Russian in the UK."

The PM's relationship with Lord Lebedev - who owns newspapers the London Evening Standard and the Independent - has come under significant criticism for much of his political life.

While London mayor and foreign secretary, Mr Johnson visited Lord Lebedev's mansion in Italy every year to attend parties.

When it was announced Lord Lebedev would be given a peerage, the government came under significant criticism and faced accusations of cronyism.

A government spokesperson previously said: “All individuals nominated for a peerage are done so in recognition of their contribution to society and all peerages are vetted by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.”

Earlier on Monday, Foreign Office minister James Cleverly defended the media mogul’s place in the House of Lords.

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“He is here as a British dual national, he is a businessman, he has been an effective businessman,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Asked why the son of a former KGB agent had been granted a seat in Parliament, Mr Cleverly said: “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.”

Lord Lebedev has spoken only once, and never voted, in Parliament, but the Foreign Office minister said: “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.”

In her letter, Ms Cooper called on the PM to “make available to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) the advice and information you were given about the ennobling of Evgeny Lebedev and full information about the role you played in the process”.

The cross-party ISC has the security clearance to view highly-classified intelligence on matters of national security, and the shadow home secretary said: “As you will agree, it is the first duty of the prime minister to protect national security.

“Given that Mr Lebedev is still a member of the House of Lords, it is in all our interests to ensure that these allegations can be thoroughly investigated.”

Sir Keir Starmer has called for an investigation into the decision to grant Lord Lebedev a peerage, claiming it is a “matter of national security”.

He said: “I’m very concerned about that story, because it goes to the heart of national security and 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."

Lord Lebedev told the Sunday Times that “all” of the allegations in its report were incorrect and the questions did not “merit an answer”.

The previous week, he appealed to Putin to stop the invasion of Ukraine, through the Evening Standard newspaper.

The crossbench peer said: “I plead with you to use today’s negotiations to bring this terrible conflict in Ukraine to an end.”