Thread by @carolecadwalla

My jaw hit the floor when I discovered Boris Johnson left an emergency NATO meeting after the Kremlin’s chemical warfare attack on Britain & flew to an off-the-books meeting with an ex-KGB spy.

Yours should too.

This is how it happened.
1/

theguardian.com/politics/2022/…

In July 2019, Johnson had just been made PM. And @nickhopkinsnews published 2 extraordinary stories about Foreign Secretary Johnson flying from a NATO meeting to a party in Italy at the height of the Skripal crisis.

2/
theguardian.com/politics/2019/…

The party was at Evgeny Lebedev’s villa. The owner of Independent & Evening Standard.

Hopkins’s first story suggested he’d given his security detail the slip to fly to Italy. Then a Guardian reader supplied photos of him leaving: hungover & dishevelled
3/

But it was Alexander Lebedev, Evgeny’s father, who interested me.

A former KGB lieutenant colonel based in the London embassy in late 80s who served alongside Vladimir Putin.

I’d had a tip-off & cycled around London trying to find people to talk
4/

There was so much that was already out in the open yet completely ignored.

In Britain, it had never been considered v newsworthy that an-KGB spy had bought 2 major newspapers.

Though MI6’s former Russia chief @Chris_D_Steele told me: ‘There’s no such thing as an ex-KGB spy’
5/

And then I got a break.

By an extraordinary coincidence, I boarded an easyJet flight. And found myself sitting next to the new PM’s sister: Rachel Johnson.

6/

She had things to say about Evgeny’s parties: ‘The women leave at midnight’.

But by an even more extraordinary coincidence, her travelling companion had been at the April 2018 party with Johnson.

And, casually mentioned another guest: Alexander Lebedev. The ex-KGB spy

7/

It was a gobsmacking revelation.

Russia attacked a UK city with a prohibited nerve agent. And the foreign secretary gave his security the slip & went to an unrecorded meeting with an ex-KGB spy.

And look at the photo again. He’s hungover & bagless but are those documents?
8/

Then in Nov 19, the chair of Intelligence & Security committee made astonishing revelation: Johnson had blocked publication of Russia Report.

@TownsendMark & worked to get our story confirmed & on the record & finally did 2 weeks before GE19
9/

theguardian.com/media/2019/nov…

Then, last week, on the same day he tendered his resignation, he was *finally* asked about the meeting by an MP.

He finally answered it. And he finally acknowledged it.

And, as if it was an astonishing new fact, even @BBCNews finally reported it.
10/
bbc.com/news/uk-politi…

When @ObserverUK published story - with facts confirmed by Lebedev spokesman - it landed to a deafening silence.

Not a single news outlet followed up. The Lebedevs remained of interest only to @guardian @ObserverUK & indie outlets @BylineTimes @openDemocracy @tortoise

11/

But it’s not as if people at @BBCNews didn’t know.

Sarah Sands, then editor of @BBCRadio4’s Today, agreed to meet & talk.

An ex-editor of the Evening Standard, she was friends with Evgeny & Johnson. She told me about the ‘late shift’ at his parties & had a tip: ‘Ask Amol’

12/

She meant Amol Rajan, @BBCNews’ media editor.

Before that, he’d been editor of Independent, appointed by Evgeny & they’d become close friends.

Rajan’s job was to report on the media. That included his friends’ titles. And his father, the ex-KGB spy.

Only he never did.

13/

As editor of Independent, Rajan published Putin-friendly pieces by Lebedev jr & sr.

In Nov 19, he said he didn’t have info about Alexander & Johnson. But he also said he didn’t believe reporting on the parties was in the public interest.

I disagree.
14/

This isn’t Jimmy Savile. Though BBC surely has qs to answer.

And it isn’t Profumo. It’s worse.

Profumo slept with an escort. He didn’t hotfoot it out of the country with NATO documents to the mountain lair of ex-KGB spy whose son he later ennobled.
15/

I thought long & hard before writing this. I like Rachel Johnson. I avoid criticising individual journalists. But the chumminess of Britain’s media & political establishment is suffocating.

And BBC’s failure to report on Russia’s & UK politics is an ongoing scandal
16/

Skripal wasn’t a ‘botched assassination attempt’. It was chemical warfare attack on a NATO country.

@NATO & Gen Secretary @jensstoltenberg must investigate. This isn’t just about UK’s security but NATO’s

And we owe Ukraine an answer. We need to know: were these NATO docs?
17/