Boris Johnson has “turned a blind eye” to the Kremlin’s creeping influence in the UK and must return £2.3m of Russia-linked cash donated to the Tories, Keir Starmer has said.
The Labour Leader has warned the Prime Minister he must get “serious about tackling Russian dirty money” in Britain. Sir Keir has said the Conservative Government must “tackle corruption at home” as he claimed the PM has “enabled” Russian influence in the UK.
Around £2.3 million in Russian-linked cash has been donated to the Tories since Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, with around a quarter of the current Cabinet receiving cash. Ministers whose offices or constituencies benefited include Deputy PM Dominic Raab, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and five other MPs who attend Cabinet.
Sir Keir said: “For a decade, the Tories have not just failed to challenge Russian influence - they have enabled it. As a result, the UK is seen as a laundromat for kleptocrats’ dirty money, our institutions have been damaged and an entire cottage industry has grown up dedicated to lobbying for and protecting those close to the Kremlin. If Boris Johnson is now serious about tackling Russian dirty money and influence, he should immediately get his own house in order. That means returning the millions of pounds of Russian-linked cash that has been donated to the Tories and their MPs since he became Prime Minister, and reversing his plans to allow unlimited donations from abroad. Then he should turn his attention to measures that will provide much needed transparency and clamp down on fraud and abuse. That mean reforming Companies House, creating a register of overseas entities and a register of foreign agents, bringing forward new counter-espionage laws and giving additional powers to the Electoral Commission in order to protect our democracy. We cannot afford more dither and delay from a Government that has turned a blind eye to Russian money as long as it helped aid the Tory Party. A failure to act now will only further strengthen Vladimir Putin in his attempts to stalk and menace his neighbours and democracies around the world.”
Well said, Sir Keir … 
