Keir Starmer urges Boris Johnson to end ‘era of oligarch impunity’ – UK politics live

PMQs has never been a forum that handles nuance particularly well, and the format – indeed, even the furnishings in the chamber – encourages everything to be presented in binary. And yet today Keir Starmer was trying to pull off some mixed messaging; broad support for the government over the principle of a robust response to Russia, while criticising the government for not going far enough. Boris Johnson was also caught in the same trap himself, trying to maintain that there is cross-party support for the government’s stance on Putin, while at the same time hacking the opposition in the shins.

Johnson’s messaging got particularly confused when he delivered one of the significant news announcements of the session – telling Starmer that the government has now asked Ofcom for review RT’s licence. But immediately after saying this, and appearing to take credit for robust action against a Kremlin fake news machine, Johnson insisted on adding a rider about his commitment to the principle of free speech. He said:

We live in a democracy, Mr Speaker, and we live in a country that believes in free speech and I think it’s important that we should leave it up to Ofcom rather than to politicians to decide which media organisations to ban.

Sometimes mixed messaging can win over the support of people on both sides of an argument, but this just left people thoroughly confused as to whether Johnson favours a crackdown on RT or not.

Of course, if free speech means the right to spout spurious claims without challenge, then it is not hard to see why Johnson is such a fan and his broad response to Starmer’s claims about the flaws with his Russia strategy – which was that Britain has been “out in front” in terms of sanctions, and that no one was doing more to address the “dirty money” problem – will be seen as bogus by anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the issue. Starmer picked out the holes in Johnson’s case quite gracefully, and twice he stressed that he wasn’t trying to make party political capital out of the issue. He certainly held the moral high ground, although the case against the government may have been made more powerfully by the ferocious barracking directed at Caroline Lucas when she asked about Russian interference in elections – a performance that sounded like evidence of a party that has something to hide. (See 12.22pm.)

Johnson, as usual, was far less squeamish about going party political, and he directed two jibes at Labour, over Barry Gardiner taking money for office costs from a Chinese agent, and over Labour leftwingers blaming Nato for the Ukraine crisis, and one against the SNP, over its former leader Alex Salmond appearing on RT. It was classic whataboutery, and not relevant to the criticisms being made by Starmer or Ian Blackford, but all three attacks were sharp, memorable and effective. They went a long way towards rescuing him in what was otherwise a difficult outing.

The i’s Arj Singh has posted this on Twitter explaining why a question from the Labour MP Imran Hussain about the Islamphobia allegations against Mark Spencer, leader of the Commons, was disallowed during PMQs. (See 12.27pm.)

Ofcom has released the text of a letter from its chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, to Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, responding to her call for it to review RT’s broadcasting licence. (See 12.09pm and 1.31pm.)

In her letter, Dawes effectively says her organisation is already on the case and that it will “not hesitate to take swift action where necessary”.

She also says that Ofcom is only enforcing rules drawn up by parliament. She explains:

Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code, which reflects the rules established by parliament in the Communications Act, requires all licensees to ensure that news – in whatever form – is reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality. It is acceptable for broadcasters to present issues from a particular perspective provided that alternative views and opinions are also represented. It would not be acceptable for any of our licensees to broadcast one-sided propaganda.

David Davis, the Conservative former Brexit secretary who is one of the few Tory MPs to have publicly called for Boris Johnson’s resignation, told Radio 4’s World at One that the government’s sanctions package against Russia risked being seen as “feeble”. He told the programme:

Whilst one understands that the government wants to make a staged response, this risks being seen as feeble by Russia. They immediately responded by stepping up their military activity.

It doesn’t provide the sort of robust, exemplary leadership that we should be giving to a western alliance which is at its weakest point probably in living memory. It risks gives an early warning to all the oligarchs we should be penalising.

In response to a point of order after PMQs, Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, told MPs that he would be making a Commons statement tomorrow about access to universities. As my colleagues Richard Adams and Sally Weale report, Zahawi is expected to announce that students in England could be blocked from going to university unless they get strong GCSE or A-level grades.

Scotland Yard’s leadership has hit back at Sadiq Khan’s ousting of the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Cressida Dick, claiming “due process” was not been followed by the mayor of London. As my colleague Vikram Dodd reports, Sir Stephen House, the Met deputy commissioner and a close ally of Dick, made the comments against Khan, who publicly clashed with Dick earlier this month. Vikram’s full story is here.

Here is the PA Media story about the Johnson/Starmer exchanges at PMQs.

Keir Starmer has urged Boris Johnson to get on with ending the “era of oligarch impunity” in the UK following Russia’s “invasion” of Ukraine.

Shouts of “get on with it” could be heard from the Labour benches as the prime minister insisted “even more” sanctions against Russia are coming, when pressed to “unleash a full package” of measures by Starmer.

Labour MPs were also seen tapping their watches and repeatedly shouting “when?” after Johnson told the Commons that “any Russian entity, any Russian individual” and members of the Russian parliament could now be targeted by UK sanctions and that further legislation is planned.

Speaking at PMQs, Starmer said: “Putin has invaded a sovereign European nation, he’s attacked because he fears openness and democracy and because he knows that given a choice people will not choose to live under erratic violent rule.

“He seeks division, we must stay united. He hopes for inaction, we must take a stand. He believes we’re too corrupted to do the right thing, so we must prove him wrong – and I believe that we can.

“So will the prime minister work across the House to ensure that this is the end of the era of oligarch impunity by saying that this House and this country will no longer be homes for their loot?”

Johnson claimed in his reply: “I don’t think any government could conceivably be doing more to root out corrupt Russian money – and that is what we’re going to do, and I think we can be proud of what we’ve already done and the measures we have set out.

“It is absolutely vital that we in the UK should stand united and people around the world can see that the UK was the first to call out what President Putin was doing in Ukraine, we’ve been instrumental in bringing the western world together in lockstep to deal with the problem, to bring together the economic package of sanctions that I have set out.

“There is still time for President Putin, as I’ve said, to de-escalate.

“But what is at stake, be in absolutely no doubt, is not just the democracy of Ukraine but the principle of democracy around the world, and that is why the unity of this House is so important today, and it is absolutely vital that the United Kingdom stands together against aggression in Ukraine.”

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has said she is “appalled” that Alex Salmond,her predecessor, still has a programme on the Kremlin-backed RT (formerly Russia Today). In an interview with STV News, she said:

I’m appalled at Alex Salmond’s continued involvement with RT, I don’t think it’s any secret now that I don’t think he should ever have had a television show on RT, but it is even more unthinkable now that that should continue.

I don’t think any elected representative should be contemplating appearing on RT right now, I will give that message – have given that message – to elected officials here at the Scottish parliament, I know (SNP Westminster leader) Ian Blackford has done so in Westminster.

Salmond was first minister and SNP leader until he lost the independence referendum in 2014. He subsequently fell out with Sturgeon, who previously had been a close friend and ally, over her response to allegations he had committed sexual assault and attempted rape (he was cleared of all charges when the cases went to court) and last year he set up a new party, Alba, which he leads.

Sturgeon also said she wanted Ofcom to consider whether RT should be banned. She said:

It’s a matter for Ofcom, but I do think there is now a very serious question about whether RT should continue to have a licence to broadcast here in Scotland and I would certainly encourage Ofcom to look at that very, very seriously and closely indeed.

In the Commons yesterday Boris Johnson said the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was already subject to UK sanctions. He has now issued a written ministerial statement, headed “clarficiation”, saying: “Roman Abramovich has not been the subject of targeted measures.”

Johnson was referring to difficulties Abramovich had renewing his visa, which led to him getting Israeli citizenship, allowing him to enter the UK without a visa for short stays.

In his statement Johnson says: “Anyone who comes to this country on an Israeli passport is a non-visa national. Israelis are required to obtain a visa if they want to live, work or study in the UK.”

Here are the main points from the post-PMQs No 10 lobby briefing.

• No 10 refused to give further details of the extra arms being supplied by the UK to Ukraine. Boris Johnson announced the move at PMQs. (See 12.03pm.) Asked what was being supplied to Ukraine, the PM’s spokesperson said:

There are operational security reasons about why I can’t go into further details about what that package entails.

• The spokesman said that the government does have the legal powers to impose sanctions on members of the Duma, but that it was still finalising the “evidence” needed to justify this. Johnson was questioned on this at PMQs, but gave an answer that did not clarify the situation. (See 12.36pm.) Asked to explain what was happening, the spokesperson said:

We can do this under existing legislation. We are finalising the evidence to bring forward new designations against the 351 members of the Russian state assembly and the members of the federation council who voted in that way.

• The spokesman said the government was asking Ofcom to keep a “watchful eye” on RT (formerly Russia Today). He said:

Ofcom does have the powers to step in when broadcasting rules have been breached and obviously, as you know, they previously sanctioned Russia Today for serious failures to comply with broadcasting rules on impartiality.

All the culture secretary is asking is Ofcom takes any appropriate action should there be any attempt to use Russia Today to spread disinformation.

See 1.31pm for a copy of the letter to Ofcom. Asked whether Johnson would advise his father not to appear again on RT, the spokesman said: “Obviously that’s a matter for individuals who appear to make that decision.”

• The PM’s press secretary defended the Conservative party’s right to take money from people with Russian links. She said:

The Conservative party does not accept foreign donations, that’s illegal.

I would make the point that there are people in this country of Russian origin who are British citizens, many are critics of Putin, so it’s wrong and discriminatory to tar them all with the same brush.

The press secretary also said the “necessary due diligence” was in place to check where donations had come from.

This is from Oliver Dowden, the Conservative party chair, echoing a point made by Boris Johnson at PMQs. (See 1.27pm.)

Steven Swinford from the Times has posted on Twitter a copy of the letter sent by Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, to Ofcom asking it to review RT’s licence.

PMQs has never been a forum that handles nuance particularly well, and the format – indeed, even the furnishings in the chamber – encourages everything to be presented in binary. And yet today Keir Starmer was trying to pull off some mixed messaging; broad support for the government over the principle of a robust response to Russia, while criticising the government for not going far enough. Boris Johnson was also caught in the same trap himself, trying to maintain that there is cross-party support for the government’s stance on Putin, while at the same time hacking the opposition in the shins.

Johnson’s messaging got particularly confused when he delivered one of the significant news announcements of the session – telling Starmer that the government has now asked Ofcom for review RT’s licence. But immediately after saying this, and appearing to take credit for robust action against a Kremlin fake news machine, Johnson insisted on adding a rider about his commitment to the principle of free speech. He said:

We live in a democracy, Mr Speaker, and we live in a country that believes in free speech and I think it’s important that we should leave it up to Ofcom rather than to politicians to decide which media organisations to ban.

Sometimes mixed messaging can win over the support of people on both sides of an argument, but this just left people thoroughly confused as to whether Johnson favours a crackdown on RT or not.

Of course, if free speech means the right to spout spurious claims without challenge, then it is not hard to see why Johnson is such a fan and his broad response to Starmer’s claims about the flaws with his Russia strategy – which was that Britain has been “out in front” in terms of sanctions, and that no one was doing more to address the “dirty money” problem – will be seen as bogus by anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the issue. Starmer picked out the holes in Johnson’s case quite gracefully, and twice he stressed that he wasn’t trying to make party political capital out of the issue. He certainly held the moral high ground, although the case against the government may have been made more powerfully by the ferocious barracking directed at Caroline Lucas when she asked about Russian interference in elections – a performance that sounded like evidence of a party that has something to hide. (See 12.22pm.)

Johnson, as usual, was far less squeamish about going party political, and he directed two jibes at Labour, over Barry Gardiner taking money for office costs from a Chinese agent, and over Labour leftwingers blaming Nato for the Ukraine crisis, and one against the SNP, over its former leader Alex Salmond appearing on RT. It was classic whataboutery, and not relevant to the criticisms being made by Starmer or Ian Blackford, but all three attacks were sharp, memorable and effective. They went a long way towards rescuing him in what was otherwise a difficult outing.

Chris Bryant (Lab) makes a point of order to say that Boris Johnson is going to correct the record over what he said about Roman Abramovich yesterday. (See 10.43am.) He says this is unprecedented; it has taken a Russian billionaire to get the PM to correct the record. He suggests that the Hansard edition containing Johnson’s correct should be bound in gold to mark the event.

On a point of order Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says Alex Salmond has “nothing to do with” the SNP. Salmond is the leader of another party, Alba. He says the SNP makes it clear that none of its parliamentarians should have anything to do with RT.