‘I have nothing to hide’: Russian media mogul Evgeny Lebedev lashes out at Keir Starmer over peerage questions

Labour has used a Commons device to force the government to disclose documents relating to the Russian oligarch son’s appointment to the House of Lords

Evgeny Lebedev lashed out at Labour and insisted he has “nothing to hide” as the government was set to release documents about the Russian oligarch son’s peerage.

The media mogul took to Twitter to say he welcomed “openness and transparency” after Labour used a Commons device to force Boris Johnson to publish before the crossbench peer was elevated to the Lords in 2020.

It follows reports the Prime Minister overruled concerns about the appointment said to have been raised by MI5 and MI6 about the millionaire son of former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev.

Lord Lebedev, who owns the Independent and London Evening Standard, also claimed the Labour leader sent him a text congratulating him at the time.

He said: “Openness and transparency are pillars of our democratic system, so I welcome the call for security advice about me provided to HOLAC to be released. I have nothing to hide.

“And in the spirit of transparency here is a text to me from Keir Starmer : ‘Congratulations on your elevation to the House of Lords. All best wishes, Keir.’

“There’s a war in Europe. Britain is facing the highest cost of living since the 1950s. And you choose to debate me based on no facts and pure innuendo. What’s become of you @UKLabour? #shadowofyourformerself”

Lord Lebedev has previously acknowledged his father was “a long time ago” a KGB officer but denied being “a security risk to this country”.

The PM’s former aide, Dominic Cummings, has claimed he was in the room when Mr Johnson was told by Cabinet Office officials that the “intelligence services and other parts of the deep state” had “serious reservations” about the PM’s plan to appoint the media tycoon to the Lords.

A Labour source, meanwhile, defended Mr Starmer’s text and said the public deserve to know why the PM intervened, adding: “It was Boris Johnson who secretly overruled the security services to give Lord Lebedev a seat in our parliament.

“None of this was publicly known at the time.”

The crossbench peer, who owns the London Evening Standard and got his vast wealth from his father, is known to be close to the Prime Minister, having previously hosted him at a party at his Italian mansion in 2018, when Mr Johnson was Foreign Secretary.

Opening the debate, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner spoke of “serious questions” over Lord Lebedev’s peerage.

She said: “The commission concluded it could not support his nomination. Forty-eight hours later, the Prime Minister visited Lebedev at his home in London.

“Details of that meeting have never been released to the public and questions remain about whether the security services knew about this meeting or whether their assessments show that the Kremlin were keeping tabs on these activities.”

In July 2020, Lord Lebedev’s appointment as a peer was announced, she said, adding: “So the question is this, what changed between the security warning and the appointment?

“The British public have a right to know if and how an individual of apparent concern to our intelligence services was granted a seat at the heart of Parliament by personal order of the Prime Minister.

“Whether the Prime Minister was aware of that security advice but chose to ignore it, overrule it, or even demand that be changed.”

Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis accused Labour of seeking to “whip up anti-Russian feeling”.

He said: “Not all Russians are our enemy. Many British citizens of Russian extraction came to this country with a view to an opposition to President Putin. People cancelling Tchaikovsky concerts is not appropriate and Labour seeking to whip up anti-Russian feeling, casting all persons of Russian extraction in a negative light is wrong.”

But Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, intervening, said he had lived and worked in Russia for three years before adding: “I’d humbly ask him to withdraw the comment about Russophobia – we have no problem with the Russian people, we have a big problem with what he’s talking about today.”

Mr Ellis said disclosing the information requested by Labour would “undermine the very role” of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

But when asked by Labour MP Sarah Owen why Conservative MPs would not vote against the motion, Mr Ellis replied: “It’s quite normal practice to ignore Opposition motions. They are given the careful attention that they deserve. That is a matter that is common practice.”