THE HEAD of the Lords appointments body has said there was "no pressure" put on them to give Evgeny Lebedev a peerage.
Lord Bew, chairman of the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac), was reassuring the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee after questions were raised over the installation of Lord Lebedev.
Questions have been raised over whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked anyone in the security services to revise, reconsider or withdraw their assessment of the media mogul, whose father was a KGB officer, ahead of his appointment in November 2020.
Crossbencher Lord Bew told the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (Pacac) that, while Lord Lebedev was a “unique” case that involved security checks, the committee had approved his peerage without interference.
“There was no pressure on this candidate – that I think is probably worth saying,” said the historian.
He said the committee had asked for more information from the security services to understand the information they shared, but denied there was any “warning” issued to Mr Johnson about the appointment.
“We did what we often do: we said ‘You told us “x”, you really need to tell us more’,” said Lord Bew.
“They didn’t say, ‘What we said in the first instance was wrong’. They said, ‘Here is a bit more, here is a bit more still’. That’s how it goes, it is an elaborative process, a process of clarification, we need to know as much as we can.”
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