From Russia with Love? U.K. Government Sits on Explosive Report

“What I do think that you might see in this report all put together in the same place, at the same time is quite a lot of malign Russian influence which, when seen together, makes it look as if the Conservative Party is far too close to Russians who are themselves close to the Kremlin.”

Allegations of Russian meddling in a foreign state’s affairs are, of course, nothing new and the U.K has experienced its fair share in various walks of life, be it Russian oligarchs buying up swathes of real estate in London or assuming ownership of Premier League football clubs. But it can also take on more sinister forms, such as the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer in Salisbury in 2018, allegedly masterminded by the Kremlin.

Presumably, these examples are merely the tip of the iceberg. What is relatively clear is that Russia made a somewhat “halfhearted attempt,” as Nixey puts it, to influence the outcome of the Brexit referendum in favor of Leave. However, that involvement wasn’t crucial in deciding the outcome.

“I think really personally that the more damning elements in the report would be the nature and amounts of financial transactions from Russian tycoons or oligarchs to the Tory party or to specific members,” he says.

Undue Political Interference
No one likes to be embarrassed — and the U.K government under Johnson is no exception. But his attempts to obfuscate the matter and delay publication of the report have left him wide open to accusations that he’s trying to hide something. Beyond that, it’s muddied the waters as to whether the intelligence and security establishment can do its work independently and not be dragged into a political quagmire.

“He’s [Johnson] left himself open to criticism by not allowing the report to be released in the normal way before the general election. And certainly, I think the intelligence oversight process in the U.K parliament has become politicized. His handling of the report and then the delay in bringing forward nominations for the committee after the election certainly reflects a level of undue influence or an attempt to at least go right to the very edge of the prime minister’s powers of control over the ISC,” says Defty.

Barring any unforeseen impediments, a new ISC could be in place before parliament’s summer recess begins next week Wednesday. And therein lies the rub: Assuming the report is published in the coming days, it would leave very little time for substantial debate and scrutiny before the summer break. Again, it begs the question of whether Johnson is merely using politically opportune tactics.

“It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that it has been a deliberate tactic to prevent, proper parliamentary scrutiny and difficult parliamentary questions about the content of this report. So, will there be time next week for a debate about it? I suspect not,” says Defty.

Crisis? What Crisis?
It’s not uncommon for parliamentary committees to publish their reports during the recess. That would certainly kick up a media storm during the summer lull. However as Defty points out, “the fuss may have died down by the time parliament comes back in September.”

By the same token, it’s feasible that if the report is published now, it could help to deflect from the government’s perceived inept handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

Smoking gun or not, the report is unlikely to spark any major political fallout. Notwithstanding the long list of problems, the current government still enjoys a healthy mandate. If anything, Boris Johnson’s resilience in the face of scandals seems to grow the more damaging they appear.

“I suspect the publication of a report which suggests that the Conservative Party has not been as secure as it might be in its social distancing from Russian influence, will create some waves and outrage, but not actually have a long term political effect,” says Nixey.

Rob Mudge is a writer and editor. This articleis published courtesy of the Deutsche Welle(DW).