The Russia report controversy is a Remainer plot to undermine the Brexit referendum, Boris Johnson has claimed.
In fierce Commons clashes, the prime minister dismissed accusations that his government was asleep at the wheel in countering the Kremlin threat as absolutely absurd.
Instead, he turned on Keir Starmer, claiming: These criticisms are motivated by a desire to undermine the referendum on the European Union that took place in 2016.
He urged MPs to recognise what the damning study by the independent intelligence and security committee was all about,
That was pressure from Islington Remainers who have seized on this report to try to give the impression that Russian interference was somehow responsible for Brexit.
Later, the prime minister condemned the rage and fury of the Remainer elite finding there is, in fact. nothing in this report.
No smoking gun whatsoever, after all that froth and fury, he alleged, adding: They should simply move on. Mr Johnson was confronted after throwing out the recommendations of the long-suppressed report, which warned Russian interference is the new normal.
Security experts, campaigners and politicians united in criticism after the findings including of “potential” interference in the Brexit referendum were dismissed within hours.
The government refused to hold an investigation into the 2016 vote, while also rejecting warnings of dirty Russian money and power infiltrating the London laundromat and the House of Lords.