10 intervened,[60] although Walters says that he stands by the story.[61]. Whittingdales responsibilities at the DCMS include oversight of foreign television networks, including the Kremlins poodle network RT. Not another story about Whittingdale! I laugh about it all day.. Under its original name, the Conservative Friends of Russia, the group facilitated a ten-day, all-expenses-paid junket to Russia in 2012, paid for by the Russian tourist government. To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here. Nalobin, the son of a senior officer in the FSB, the successor to the KGB, founded the Conservative Friends of Russia, a parliamentary group. It was active in the campaign calling on the UK Foreign Office to allow British Arctic Veterans of World War Two to receive the Russian Ushakov Medal. Journalism in Britain is under threat. As soon as I discovered, I ended the relationship., Oliver writes that he approved the press release and tracked down Whittingdale, who was about to attend a Vote Leave dinner: He is clear that he didnt realise he was going out with a prostitute who specialises in sado-masochism., The Number 10 media supremo said he put to Whittingdale the unreported press interest in his string of Russian girlfriends. His then teenage son was educated at a leading British private school. But the joke was at the publics expense. It has existed in some form for a decade, yet is not required to register as a lobbyist, sparking fears that pro-Putin interests could be influencing opinion unchecked. For the moment, Firtash continues to insist on his innocence and remains in Austria while he battles the Americans who want to lock him up. The groups act as a conduit between the party and certain countries or regions. [48][49][50], During Dominic Cummings's tenure as chief adviser, Cummings and Carrie Symonds were said to represent two separate factions influencing the prime minister. Guests included the then Tory staffer Carrie Symonds (now the Prime Minister's wife) and senior Conservative politicians such as John Whittingdale. Others have made substantial investments in media and industry. Ms Symonds previously worked as head of press at Conservative Campaign Headquarters. She paid 135,000 in April 2019 for a dinner at the luxury Goring hotel with Theresa May, also then the PM, and several female cabinet members. Her largesse seems directed at whoever is the Conservative leader. Lord Barker of Battle, as he has been known since his elevation to the House of Lords, has also worked for another Russian businessman with the ear of Britains powerful elite, Oleg Deripaska. Whittingdale was honorary vice-president of Conservative Friends of Russia until it was disbanded. Ah, Carrie "Conservative Friends of Russia" Symonds, later Johnson . Three named directors are Richard Glasspool, a former partner at KPMG Russia and former head of the risk committee of the Credit Bank of Moscow, run by Putin-friendly oligarch Roman Avdeev; Kirill Glukhovskoy, formerly a senior lawyer with major Russian energy companies according to the Aquind website; and oligarch Alexander Temerko. Reactions to Johnson-Symonds wedding announcement, Brits Spend Billions On University Degrees They Never Use, UK joins US in withdrawing staff and families from Ukraine embassy, Two women who lost family to stabbings unveil latest knife-drive haul, EuroMillions Results for Friday 26 August 2022 Tonights winning numbers. The forum originally launched as Conservative Friends of Russia in 2012, a political interest group for those with an interest in Russian politics, business, history and culture, with the aim of strengthening . Boris Johnson has maintained a close relationship with the proprietor of the Independent, Evgeny Lebedev himself the son of a former KGB spy. Shestakov is an old friend of Putins and with him co-authored several books, including Learn Judo With Vladimir Putin and Judo: History, Theory, Practice. Receive our monthly print edition and help to support fearless, independent journalism. In spring 2018, Johnson flew to the Lebedevs villa in Perugia, Italy. The exemption has been granted because they would be at risk of serious violence or intimidation if their identity was published. Another rich oligarch born in the Soviet Union, Alexander Temerko, has contributed more than 1 million to the Conservatives since he gained British citizenship in 2011 and also financed Johnsons leadership campaign. She told Byline Times: my involvement with the Ukraine APPG [All-Party Parliamentary Group] was entirely voluntary on an informal and part-time basis. According to The Guardian, a judicial review was granted permission to examine how the decision was reached. His Leave.EU campaign also regularly recycled Russian racist propaganda. [56] Journalist Sarah Vine, on the other hand, said that while it is easy to "blame the woman", the truth is "far more complicated", adding that Johnson's head did not deserve "to be on the block". The then foreign secretary left his security detail behind and was spotted at the airport on his way home, dishevelled and hungover. 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This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. Oliver Pieper. Sergey Nalobin once jokingly described himself on Twitter as a brutal agent of the Putin dictatorship. [28][2] These accusations were claimed by an anonymous "longtime colleague" to be a smear campaign allegedly spread by Symonds's political strategist, Lynton Crosby (subsequently denied by Crosby). Mamut introduced a Russian-language section to its store in Piccadilly Circus, central London. The friendship has . A conservative think tank has called for an independent inquiry into Boris Johnson's fiance, Carrie Symonds, and her "possible influence" in government. The Covid-19 public inquiry is a historic chance to find out what really happened. The Times has reported that a fourth, controlling figure in Aquind has been granted rare anonymity by Companies House, despite anti-corruption rules promoting greater transparency in 2016. The former banker turns down interview requests and has not publicly explained why she has given the Conservative party more than 1.7m. Our leading investigations include: empire & the culture war,Brexit, crony contracts,Russian interference,the Coronavirus pandemic,democracy in danger, andthe crisis in British journalism. [51] Cummings also said that the prime minister "cancel[led] an inquiry about a leak because it might implicate his girlfriend's friends";[52] Cummings accused Henry Newman, the senior adviser in Downing Street and ally of Carrie Symonds, of being a "chatty rat" who leaked plans for a second lockdown in October. Udod was invited to a drinks party hosted by Banks on the night of the shock EU Referendum result in June 2016. New to Byline Times? That October, Maria popped up in the House of Commons as the founder of the Global Friends of Ukraine (GFU), with patron John Whittingdale, who stuck the event on his website. It has an active Twitter feed, echoing official lines from Kremlin-funded organisations although it has been uncharacteristically silent since Putins movement this week of recognising the separatist Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of Ukraine, and since the start of todays invasion. ", "Tory pro-Russia lobbying group disbands", "Conservative Friends of Russia group disbands with immediate effect", "Who is Carrie Symonds? Now called the Westminster Russia Forum (WRF), the groups British organisers often appear on the Russian state broadcaster, RT. Borodin said he did not discuss party policy at the event, nor make a donation. There is no suggestion that Shetler-Jones, Lords Oxford and Risby are now batting for the other side. He later left Moscow and became a British citizen in 2011. Farage supports other European right-wing politicians such as Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini who have received Russian funding. Former German chancellor Gerhard Schrder has maintained that his ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin are a valuable channel of communication. Lets examine the record of John Whittingdale, the Minister for Media and Data within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), responsible for defending us against Russias propaganda machine. Ask George Osborne, Craig Oliver or Carrie Symonds. It also subsidised its members to attend an event featuring international lawyers discussing the Pussy Riot incident, and hosted a debate on the US Presidential Election and its impact upon the relationship between the two countries. A gangster with a conviction for firearms was also reportedly going out with King at the same time as Whittingdale and was trying to sell tapes of King talking about what she did with the then Culture Secretary. ", "Carrie Johnson: Who is the prime minister's wife? [9][10][11][12] She was the first unmarried partner of a prime minister to reside at Downing Street. From 2011 onward, Nalobin met various British social media influencers at a regular Digital Barbecue. [10], The group was officially launched in late 2012 and has since gone on to host numerous events throughout the UK, covering a variety of topics such as LGBT rights in Russia, with guest speakers Peter Tatchell and Claire Harvey. Businesspeople born in the Soviet Union play a significant role in British business and politics. One Conservative Party guest on the Russia trip told openDemocracy that the forums current setup had no meaningful connection to CFR but despite its rebrand to WFR, the group today still refers to itself as having been founded in 2012. openDemocracy has also obtained emails showing that in 2013, during the Tory coalition with the Liberal Democrats, Russian diplomat Sergey Nalobin attempted to organise a similar trip to Russia for senior Lib Dems. The Whittingdale-Firtash connection made his reappointment last summer to the DCMS (albeit at the lower peg as Minister of State as opposed to Secretary of State) by new Prime Minister Boris Johnson all the more surprising. Nigel Farages former party UKIP has been a strong supporter of Russia for over a decade. Minister John Whittingdale was the groups honorary vice-president when it first launched, he attended the opening with then office aide Carrie Symonds, now Carrie Johnson, wife of Prime Minister Johnson. [53] Cummings later said in 2021 that Symonds acted "illegally" in awarding influential jobs to her friends, including press secretary Allegra Stratton. It is unclear whether the trip went ahead. Another prominent associate of the group was Matthew Elliot, chief executive of the official Vote Leave campaign. [17][18] Her paternal grandfather was John Beavan, Baron Ardwick (at one time editor of the Daily Herald and later, during the 1970s, a Labour Party MEP), and her paternal grandmother was Anne Symonds, a BBC World Service journalist. Luke Hardings latest book Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russias Remaking of the West (Guardian Faber) is available from the Guardian Bookshop. Temerko has given more than 1.3m to the Conservative party. The Russia Report by Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) stated: The UK is clearly a target for Russias disinformation campaigns and political influence operations and must therefore equip itself to counter such efforts., Britains intelligence agencies told the committee: They informed us that the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) holds primary responsibility for disinformation campaigns..