UK parliament presses Johnson to release Russia report

A prominent member of Britain's parliament has demanded that Prime Minister Boris Johnson release a report on Russian interference in British politics after delays, local media reported Jan. 20.

"The public interest and the imperative is and has always been clear: lift your sanction on publishing this report and re-establish the [parliament's] Intelligence and Security Committee so that it can be immediately published," Ian Blackford, head of the Scottish National Party (SNP) delegation for Westminster, said in a letter to Johnson.

The Russia report was compiled by the committee during the last parliament. Johnson must give final clearance to ensure that no classified intelligence is included, but he said he did not have enough time to clear the report before the Dec. 12 general election.
This was a controversial decision and hot election topic. It was also criticized by the then-chairman of the committee Dominic Grieve, a former Conservative MP.

When parliament is dissolved for elections, so are the internal committees. These committees must be restarted with members of parliament following an election in order to continue work. In this case, the Intelligence and Security Committee must restart in order to release the report.

Johnson pledged to publish the report after the election. His Conservative Party won a majority, while the SNP emerged as the third largest party in parliament.

"Members of the committee saw evidence of Russian infiltration in Conservative political circles, but it is unclear how much of that concern reached the final document," the liberal-left Guardian newspaper reported.

Blackford said that "Russian interference in elections is widespread and well documented. The evidence that Russia poses a...