Sir Keir Starmer has called for an investigation into how a Russian media tycoon was awarded a peerage after claims Boris Johnson personally intervened.

The Sunday Times reported today that security services withdrew an assessment which warned that granting the honour to Evgeny Lebedev was a national security risk after the Prime Minister claimed it was "anti-Russian".

According to the newspaper, Mr Johnson pushed ahead with the nomination of Lebedev, the Moscow-born son of an ex-KGB agent, despite concerns raised by MI5. 

In March 2020, the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac), which vets peerages, wrote to the prime minister advising him against granting Lebedev, 41, a lifetime seat in the Lords.

They did so based on information provided by the intelligence services. 

Mr Johnson then met Lebedev, who has British citizenship, at his home on March 19, 2020 - two days after the initial rejection, however Downing Street will not reveal what was discussed.

The newspaper reported that Mr Johnson then took a personal interest in the case, with a former adviser saying he refused to accept the security services' verdict.

By June, the security advice had been revised with the warnings about national security removed, the newspaper reports, paving the way for the peerage to be granted.

Lord Lebedev has never spoken in a Lords debate since he was ennobled in November 2020. 

Speaking to the BBC's Sunday Morning programme, Sir Keir said he was “very concerned” about the reports surrounding Lord Lebedev and insisted the case should be referred to the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee as it goes to “the heart of national security”.

He said: “I’m very concerned about that story, because it goes to the heart of national security and there’s at least the suggestion that the Government and the Prime Minister were warned that there was a national security risk in this particular appointment.

“I think, in the circumstances, what the appropriate thing is for the Intelligence and Security Committee, which is a cross-party committee in Parliament that can have access to confidential material – I think this case should be referred to that committee so they can look into this story.

“This allegation – which is very serious because, of course, it’s a matter of national security – I hope the Government will answer it today.”

Speaking on the same programme, Dominic Raab suggested Lord Lebedev, who owns the the Evening Standard newspaper alongside The Independent, went through a “very strict and stringent” process when he was granted his peerage.

The Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister said he did not know the facts of the case but claimed the peerage appointment process had been “applied very rigorously”.

He said: “There is a strict and stringent process when anyone is granted a peerage. I don’t know the facts of the case, I wasn’t involved in it. But I do know that it was applied very rigorously in this case.”

He added: “This was done properly and correctly, and we have procedures and systems in place to make sure it is.”

Commenting on the reports, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the Prime Minister’s “disregard” for the facts is a “threat to us all”.

She said: “By dismissing the intelligence services’ advice and disrespecting officials, the Prime Minister has once again put personal interest before the public’s. And this time he’s risked national security.

“It is clear that Boris Johnson has never been serious about taking the tough measures needed to eradicate Putin’s influence in Britain, and his friendships raise questions about his failure to act. This Government’s dangerous links to Putin’s oligarchs are putting us all at risk.

“There must be an urgent investigation into how the Prime Minister was able to ignore security reports, including what requests were made of the intelligence services to overturn their decision, and whether parliamentary bodies were consulted.

“Boris Johnson’s disregard for the facts is a threat to us all.”

Lord Lebedev told the Sunday Times that “all” of the allegations in its report were incorrect and the questions did not “merit an answer”.

Last week, the media mogul appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the invasion of Ukraine, through the Evening Standard newspaper.

In a statement published alongside a photograph of a paramedic performing CPR on a girl injured by shelling, Lord Lebedev said: “On this page are the final minutes of a six-year-old child fatally injured by shells that struck her Mariupol apartment block on Sunday.

“She is still wearing her pink jacket as medics fight to save her. But it is too late. Other children, and other families, are suffering similar fates across Ukraine.

“As a Russian citizen I plead with you to stop Russians killing their Ukrainian brothers and sisters.

“As a British citizen I ask you to save Europe from war. As a Russian patriot I plead that you prevent any more young Russian soldiers from dying needlessly. As a citizen of the world I ask you to save the world from annihilation.”