PMQs: Caroline Lucas cut off by Speaker after calling Boris Johnson 'shifty' over alleged Russian meddling in UK

PMQs: Caroline Lucas cut off by Speaker after calling Boris Johnson 'shifty' over alleged Russian meddling in UK
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Max Parry

By Max Parry


Published: 23/02/2022

- 13:06

The former Green Party leader asked the PM why he was "turning a blind eye to allegations of Russian disruption"

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, was rebuked by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, during a fiery exchange in the House of Commons.

The former Green Party leader accused Boris Johnson of looking "shifty" when she asked him yesterday whether he was aware of Russian meddling in UK elections.


Ms Lucas said the Prime Minister implied there had been Russian interference in the UK, when he was serving as Foreign Secretary in 2017.

Mr Johnson "corrected" his Russian opposite number in a 2017 press conference, who had suggested there had no interference from the Kremlin in UK elections, Ms Lucas claimed.

The Brighton Pavilion MP told the House that Mr Johnson had told the press conference, there had been no evidence of "successful" interference.

Her tirade continued: "Can he explain why he is turning a blind eye to allegations of Russian disruption?"

Before she could finish her speech however, the Speaker asked her: "I hope you’re coming to the end of the question."

She sat down, before standing and responding: "Speaker I could be a lot faster if I wasn’t being barracked by the other side."

Mr Johnson responded to Ms Lucas' accusations by saying: "I have seen absolutely no evidence of successful Russian interference in any election or any electoral event."

This comes as Sir Keir asked the Prime Minister why he hadn't introduced a "full package of sanctions" against Russia, after President Putin ordered his troops into the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine.

The PM has confirmed that Russian banks and very wealthy individuals close to the Kremlin have been sanctioned by the UK.

"The UK is out in front," he said.

"We will be stopping Russian companies... from raising money."

"That will hit Putin where it hurts," Mr Johnson told the Commons.

He continued: "People around the world can see that the UK was the first to call out what President Putin was doing in Ukraine.

"We have been instrumental in bringing the western world together."

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