Lord Bu, chairman of the Nomination Committee of the House of Lords (Holac), told lawmakers that “no pressure” had been put on them when it came to granting the title of Lord Lebedev.
Questions have been raised about whether Boris Johnson asked someone in the security services to reconsider, reconsider or withdraw his assessment of the media mogul, whose father was a KGB officer before his appointment in November 2020.
Lord Bue, a cross-bench colleague, told the Committee on Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs (Pacac) this morning that while Lord Lebedev was a “unique” case involving security checks, the committee approved his title without interference.
“There was no pressure on this candidate – I think that’s probably worth saying,” said the historian.
He said the commission had asked for more information from the security services to find out what information they were sharing, but denied there was any “warning” from Mr Johnson about the appointment.
“We did what we often do: we said ‘You told us’ x’, you really have to tell us more,” said Lord Bu.
“They did not say what we said in the first instance was wrong.” They said, “Here’s a little more, here’s a little more.” That’s the way it is, it’s a development process, a clarification process, we need to know as much as we can. “
Add Comment