Home
Page

National Security a Priority

In the row over delayed publication of the report into Russian activity in the UK by parliament's intelligence and security committee (ISC), it is worth asking who the security minister was while the government sat on the dossier (most notably over the December general election) and who seems not to have pressed the clear security interest in publishing it.

Step forward Great Yarmouth MP and current Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis. Before taking the security job in July 2019, Lewis had been chairman of the Conservative party (and minister without portfolio) for 18 months, overseeing among other things the raising of funds from rich Russians - an unusual warm up for the security brief.

During this latter period, it so happens, Lewis's office received three donations from oligarch's wife Lubov Cheernukhin totalling £14,500 (plus £10,000 this February).

Lewis was also the Tory party chairman who in 2018 appointed Ehud Sheleg as party treasurer. The Mayfair art dealer had done extensive business with some highly colourful and well-connected Russian businessmen, and had even hosted Russia's UK ambassador after sanctions over the Crimean invasion. (The ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko, returned to Moscow last year saying Russia had "crushed the British to the ground".) Among his £3m donations to the Tories since 2017, Sheleg (who remains responsible for ensuring the probity of donations to the Tory party) handed Lewis's office £10,000 earlier this year - just after getting gonged as Sir Ehud.

Clearly, nothing to see here.

Private Eye 1527 - July 31st 2020