The UK government will not bow to growing pressure to publish an investigation into alleged Russian interference in British politics, even though the contents have been signed off by intelligence agencies and senior Whitehall officials.
The 50-page inquiry, conducted by parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), was intended for publication before the House of Commons is dissolved for the general election at midnight on Tuesday.
But Boris Johnson, prime minister, is refusing to release the dossier, prompting claims from Labour that it is being suppressed for fear of damaging Tory campaign prospects.
The ISC’s inquiry examines allegations of Russian activity in British politics, including the 2016 Brexit referendum, in which Mr Johnson was a leading campaigner for Leave.
Dominic Grieve, the ISC committee chairman, told MPs on Tuesday that the report had been sent to the prime minister for “final confirmation” on October 17, and that it was “unprecedented” that he had received “no response at all explaining why any further delay is required in this case”.
The former Tory MP, a prominent Remain-supporter who now stands as an independent, also confirmed that the report had been signed off by Britain’s main intelligence agencies, including MI5, the domestic security service whose responsibility it is to monitor foreign espionage and influence operations in the UK.
Defending the government position Christopher Pincher, a Foreign Office minister, said it was “not unusual” for the review of ISC reports to “take some time”.
“It’s not as if the prime minister has not had one or two other things to do during the last several weeks,” he said, referring to Mr Johnson’s efforts to negotiate a new Brexit deal with the EU.
Mr Grieve hit back at Mr Pincher’s claims that the report would need “weeks of further interdepartmental consultations”, saying these explanations for the delay were “plainly bogus”.
Emily Thornberry, Labour’s foreign secretary, said the delay was “utterly unjustifiable, unprecedented and clearly politically-motivated”.
“We are bound to ask, what is Downing Street so worried about?” she said. “I fear it is because they realise that this report will lead to other questions about the links between Russia and Brexit and with the current leadership of the Tory party, which risks derailing their election campaign.”
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former foreign secretary and ex-chair of the ISC, said it was “very unsatisfactory” for the government to delay publication until after the election, when the ISC will be reformed with new members.
Many senior intelligence experts have also called on Mr Johnson to publish the ISC investigation without delay. Jonathan Evans, Former MI5 director-general, said: “If the government had a reason why this shouldn’t be published before the election, then I think they should make it very clear what that reason is.”
