Boris Johnson’s ethics chief urged to investigate Raab defence of Lebedev peerage

Boris Johnson’s ethics chief as been urged to investigate Dominic Raab’s defence of the Prime Minister over Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage.

Labour ’s deputy leader Angela Rayner today wrote to Lord Geidt, the PM’s adviser on the ministerial code, suggesting Mr Raab may have misled MPs “on a matter of national security.”

It follows claims Mr Johnson challenged warnings from security services to give a peerage to Mr Lebedev – a media mogul and son of ex-KGB agent Alexander.

Mr Johnson himself has insisted it is “simply incorrect” that he personally or directly asked for the advice to be reversed.

And at PMQs on Wednesday, Deputy PM Mr Raab on branded the claims “sheer nonsense.”

But Dominic Cummings, Mr Johnson’s former top aide, used a blog post to claim he had been in the room when Cabinet Office officials informed Mr Johnson about the concerns.

“I supported these concerns and said to the PM in his study explicitly that he should not go ahead,” he wrote.

“He was very cross and as he does when cross he blustered nonsense

Mr Cummings claimed two others who were in the room would back his version of events in court.https://get-latest.convrse.media/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fboris-johnsons-ethics-chief-urged-26495889&cre=center&cip=14&view=web

Writing to Lord Geidt, Ms Rayner said: “The Deputy Prime Minister seems to have been answering crucial questions about the security risk posed by an individual appointed at the heart of our democracy, based on incorrect information.

“He specifically described the Prime Minister’s knowledge of such security advice, and subsequent decision to ignore it, instead providing a revised version to HOLAC, as “sheer nonsense”.

Source:dilymirror