ITS ALL CONNECTED...HOLY SHIIIITTT
thetimes.co.uk
Labour asks about Dominic Cummings’ years working in Russia
Tom Harper and Caroline Wheeler
4-5 minutes
election 2019
A whistleblower has prompted questions on vetting the PM’s top adviser
November 3 2019, 12:01am, The Sunday Times
Concerns have been raised about Dominic Cummings’ spell in Russia between 1994 and 1997CHRIS J RATCLIFFE
Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s most senior adviser, is facing questions from Labour over his past activities in Russia after a whistleblower came forward to raise “serious concerns” about the three years Cummings spent there after graduating from university.
The whistleblower has approached senior Labour politicians to raise questions about the “relationships” that Boris Johnson’s chief of staff may have developed with people involved in “politics, intelligence and security” when he worked in Russia between 1994 and 1997.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, has written to her Tory counterpart, Dominic Raab, to ask what level of security clearance Cummings was granted when he joined Johnson in Downing Street in July.
In the letter, which has been copied to Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary and national security adviser, as well as the heads of MI5 and MI6,
Thornberry asked whether Cummings has been “developed vetted” (DV), which would grant him access to the government’s most sensitive intelligence.
Vetting of people applying to work in government posts involves a detailed interview by security officials looking for anything that might compromise them. The checks involve a review of intelligence databases, personal finances and cross-examination of referees, who could include friends and family.
Thornberry asked whether Cummings's past raises “concerns” about him being granted “access to the highest levels of classified material, or given such high levels of influence over UK government policy”.
She added: “I feel duty-bound to put to you the concerns raised with the Labour front bench by a whistleblower whose motives we have no cause to question.”
A Whitehall source with knowledge of the vetting process said Cummings, who is in overall charge of government strategy, had been awarded DV status by the Cabinet Office. However, the source also claimed that officials still prevent Johnson’s de facto chief of staff from seeing some aspects of government business.
The Cabinet Office said: “We do not comment on individuals’ security clearance.”
The news comes as Downing Street is accused of sitting on a parliamentary report on the security threat posed by Russia to the UK, which examined allegations that Kremlin-sponsored activity distorted the result of the 2016 EU referendum. Cummings masterminded the Vote Leave campaign.
Dominic Grieve MP, chairman of the cross-party intelligence and security committee, said he had expected Johnson to approve publication of the 50-page dossier by last week — and there was now a risk it would not emerge before the general election.
He said: “What has absolutely astonished me is the mendacity of the response from the No 10 press office, which I do take to be linked to Cummings. They have come up with a series of utterly bogus explanations why it can’t be published now, and they really are whopping lies.”
In her letter, Thornberry also asks whether Cummings was questioned about his relationships with members of the group Conservative Friends of Russia, which his Vote Leave co-founder Matthew Elliott had links to.
Elliott attended one of its receptions and went on a 10-day trip to the country organised by the group, which aimed to strengthen relations between Britain and Russia.
However, it was quickly shut down when it emerged that its diplomatic contact at the Russian embassy, Sergey Nalobin, had family ties to Russia’s intelligence agencies. Nalobin later left the UK.
Labour questions Dominic Cummings's links to Russia
Labour questions Dominic Cummings's links to Russia
Emily Thornberry writes to government asking for details of No 10 security vetting
Jamie GriersonSun 3 Nov 2019 06.21 EST
Dominic Cummings in Downing Street. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media
The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, has written to the government with
questions about Dominic Cummings’s connections to Russia and the levels of security vetting to which he has been subjected in Downing Street after an official-level whistleblower raised serious concerns.
Cummings, the divisive senior adviser to the prime minister, Boris Johnson, spent three years in Russia from 1994 to 1997 after he graduated from Oxford University with a first in ancient and modern history.
In her letter addressed to the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, which was first reported on in the
Sunday Times and has been seen by the Guardian, Thornberry says shadow ministers have been approached with “serious concerns by an official-level whistleblower” but adds: “We make no claim to know the veracity of their claims.”
She then asks what level of security vetting Cummings was subjected to prior to his appointment at No 10.
“I would assume that – given the seniority of his position and the influence it gives him over decision-making at the top of government – that he was subject to the highest level of developed vetting (DV) and that – as a result – he is able to study ‘top secret’ intelligence material and attend meetings on the UK’s military and security operations overseas,” she writes.
The Cabinet Office said: “We do not comment on individuals’ security clearance.” The Guardian approached Downing Street, which had nothing further to add to the Cabinet Office statement.
The shadow foreign secretary asks a number of further questions in relation to Cummings’s relationship with Russia, on the assumption that he has been subjected to the highest level of developed vetting. She asks:
- What was Cummings’s relationship with academics at Oxford University, and did they discuss the possibility of working to support the post-communist Russian government?
- Was Cummings questioned about the purpose of his three-year period of work in post-communist Russia between 1994 and 1997, including relationships with figures in Russian politics, intelligence and security?
- Was Cummings questioned about relationships with members of the group Conservative Friends of Russia?
The letter is copied to Sir Mark Sedwill, head of the civil service, as well as the heads of MI5 and MI6 and the chair of the intelligence and security committee (ISC), Dominic Grieve.
Grieve this week accused the prime minister of sitting on an ISC report on Russian interference in British politics, including the 2016 EU referendum. The ISC said it had expected
Johnson to approve publication of the 50-page dossier by Thursday – and there was now a risk its publication would be prevented before the general election.
It is understood that the dossier examines allegations that Russian money has flowed into British politics in general and the Conservative party in particular. It also features claims that Russia launched a major influence operation in 2016 in support of Brexit.
Cummings was the campaign director and co-founder of Vote Leave, the official campaign in support of leaving the EU, which was found to have broken the law by exceeding a £7m spending limit. Vote Leave was fined and referred to the police, who earlier this week handed a file to prosecutors for consideration.
@88m3 @ADevilYouKhow @wire28 @dtownreppin214
@dza @wire28 @BigMoneyGrip @Dameon Farrow @re'up @Blackfyre @NY's #1 Draft Pick @Skyfall @2Quik4UHoes
you figured out the cunning plan
