Last Thursday in the House of Commons, Johnson made a statement to MPs: Priorities for government and delivered a list of the bungs we will be forced to buy ourselves in order to keep him in office. No doubt they will soon appear on the side of a bus. Afterwards he 'answered' questions - which mainly consisted of batting them away. Late on (Column 1476 HERE) he was asked an intriguing question by a Scottish MP, Stewart McDonald (SNP), about a couple of Russians which might also have made Nigel Adams' sit up.
"Why does the Prime Minister refuse point blank to answer any questions put to him about his relationship with the former Russian arms dealer Alexander Temerko or the owner of the Evening Standard, Evgeny Lebedev, who has written in glowing terms about President Putin and Assad? What exactly do they have on him?"
To which The Prime Minister answered:
"I struggle to find a point in the hon. Gentleman’s question. If he has an allegation that he wishes to make, I suggest that he sends it to me in writing, and I will be happy to respond".
To which The Prime Minister answered:
"I struggle to find a point in the hon. Gentleman’s question. If he has an allegation that he wishes to make, I suggest that he sends it to me in writing, and I will be happy to respond".
Here is Mr Temerko at a Tory party conference with our new PM. The question and the answer was interesting because although Temerko is said to be a big supporter of Boris Johnson he does not appear to have given anything directly to him. He has given considerable sums to Nigel Adams and other Tory MPs as well as the party itself.He is in fact a very generous man, giving more than £1 million to the Tory party - which he claims "shares his view on Putin's Russia". In 2016 he gave Adams £31,300 in two donations plus another £2,500 in 2017. He also gave money to other Tory MPs either in direct donations or in fund raising efforts or money given to local parties:
In 2016 before the referendum he gave the following amounts:
Nigel Adams £15,000
Guto Bebb £6,666.66
Simon Hart £6,666.66
Tom Pursglove £6,666.66 (Pursglove listed himself as CEO Grassroots OUT at the time)
Brandon Lewis £6,750Chris Heaton-Harris £20,000
Liam Fox £10,000
After the referendum (or at least registered in July 2016) he gave Adams another £16,300
I note he has since provided more money to:
Simon Hart £2000 February 2019
Brandon Lewis £5450 June 2018
Will Quince £5750 April 2019
Nigel Adams £2500 August 2017
Guto Bebb £5000 May 2017
Karen Bradley £5020 April 2018
Brandon Lewis £7500 November 2017
David Morris £5000 May 2017
Andrew Percy £10,000 July 2017
John Whittingdale £5000 July 2017
Ten days ago Reuters ran an article about Temerko and his links to Johnson which said:
"Temerko revealed himself to be a supporter of Johnson’s bid to lead Britain out of the EU, describing the 2016 public vote to leave the bloc as a “revolution against bureaucracy.” He praised senior Russian security officials, including the current and former heads of the Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the KGB, and proudly recalled his past work with Russia’s Defence Ministry."
Although now a UK citizen he formerly held senior posts in the Russian Defence Ministry in the 1990s and from 1999 he was a senior executive at the Russian oil and gas company Yukos. It's always hard to read these oligarchs but I note the Kremlin does not appear to regard him as an enemy.
The other man mentioned, Evgeny Lebedev has a house in Umbria in Italy, close to Perugia and in April 2018 Boris Johnson, then our Foreign Secretary, was pictured in San Francesco d'Assissi Airport "looking like he had slept in his clothes" and "struggling to walk in a straight line and telling other passengers he had had a heavy night". The airport is also known as Perugia airport and one I know very well. It's new but very small indeed and for UK Flights only Ryanair use it.
The Guardian report from July last year says:
Pictures of the now prime minister along with an account from a fellow traveller shed further light on Johnson’s weekend away at the home of the media owner Evgeny Lebedev, who is known for hosting uproarious parties for the rich and famous at his converted castle near Perugia.
Johnson has refused to answer questions about the visit in April last year, including whether he flew to Italy against the advice of his officials and without the 24/7 security detail usually assigned to the foreign secretary.
The pictures, taken at San Francesco d’Assisi airport on Sunday 29 April 2018, suggest he did go to Italy without a police escort. According to another passenger on the flight back to the UK, Johnson was on his own, seemingly without any luggage and very much the worse for wear.
Our Foreign Secretary appeared to be stumbling around an Italian airport like a football hooligan, half-drunk and dishevelled. The day before flying out to Italy he had apparently been in Brussels for talks with the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and other Nato leaders to discuss how to deal with Russia in the aftermath of the nerve agent poisonings in Salisbury. Amazing.
And finally, what about this question:
Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)
What did the Prime Minister meet Cambridge Analytica about in December 2016, when he was Foreign Secretary?
The Prime Minister
I have no idea.
Really?
