Bozo And Both Lebedevs

Although maybe not as “exclusive” as claimed, the story in yesterday’s Sunday Times pointing out that alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson had apparently overruled security agency concerns over the award of a peerage to Evgeny Lebedev has put the heat under Bozo and his coterie of ineptitude to their considerable discomfort.

Gabriel Pogrund noted “PM ignored warning about son of ex KGB spy and oligarch, said it was ‘anti-Russianism’”. Once again, it must be stressed that it is a commonly held opinion among those with knowledge of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and his gangsterist régime in Moscow that there is no such thing as an ex-KGB agent (or “spy”, if you wish).

One of those who knows the Russia of Putin and his pals well is Luke Harding of the Guardian, who pointed out “Here’s the brush off I got from Downing Street when I asked about Johnson’s private meeting in March 2020 with Evgeny [Lebedev], after MI5 vetoed Lebedev’s peerage on security grounds: ‘No information is held’. A whiff of cover up”.

If the meeting had happened during one of those trips to Perugia where Bozo ditched his security detail, though, that may be true. Meanwhile, Michal Weiss had more. “Below is a photo of Johnson with Sergey Nalobin, an SVR officer who worked out of the Russian embassy in London and helped set up the Conservative Friends of Russia influence group. Nalobin called Johnson his ‘good friend’ … Nalobin was later PNGed”. Expelled, that is.

Pogrund’s co-author Harry Yorke told that the story refuses to die. “Boris Johnson says it is ‘simply incorrect’ to say he intervened in Lebedev’s peerage after Holac’s initial rejection based on a security assessment. His denial is at direct odds with the multiple sources The Sunday Times spoke to, and later those who confirm story to [Robert Peston]”.

So James Cleverly was sent in to bat for Bozo, as Paul Waugh observed. “[James Cleverly] on Lebedev - ex-KGB dad: ‘My father is a former chartered surveyor, so what your father did for work I’m not sure completely relevant’”. It’s highly relevant if Bozo has chosen to use Lebedev Père as a means of giving him a back channel to Putin.

But maybe Lebedev Fils does not share this pro-Putin mindset? As if: one look at still extant items in his Twitter feed should disabuse anyone of that notion. Items such as “Was Litvinenko murdered by MI6? Interesting in the Mail. Certainly more to it than the generally accepted Putin link”. Or how about “Mary Dejevsky looks hard at the facts we have (so far) in Litvinenko case … Russia’s complicity still far from proven”. Yeah, right.

Mary Dejevsky is widely regarded as a Putin apologist. And Pogrund is back on the case. "Johnson's denial only poses more questions … No one denies the PM was advised against nominating Lebedev, that he visited him 48hrs later, and that the intelligence then changed … If he didn't intervene who did? Why did MI5/6 or Nat Sec Secretariat abruptly decide Lebedev was fine?” Bozo having difficulty lying his way out of this one.

It was left to Carole Cadwalladr of the Observer to post a photo of Lebedev Fils with the caption “Lord Lebedev with his pet wolf dog, Boris, on a tight lead”. Most revealing.

Is Bozo a security risk? You might wish to ask that - I couldn’t possibly comment.

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