The Right Honourable The Lord Lebedev of Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and of Siberia in the Russian Federation – or Evgeny ‘Two Beards’ to his many, many, many, many mates – is an octopus-like man with tentacles everywhere, utterly everywhere.
When he’s not bothering to turn up in the House of Lords (where he’s only bothered to have spoken on one occasion and never bothered to have voted at all since being appointed in November 2020), this crossbench life peer known for being a “Londongrad playboy” is to be found giving parties for Boris Johnson or hanging out in Whitstable, Kent with his mouthy mate Janet Street-Porter.
With homes including a “blacked out Belgravia flat,” Stud House, near Hampton Court Palace and Castello di Santa Eurasia in Umbria, Italy, here is a clearly intelligent man of immense wealth who knows how to ingratiate himself with everyone from rough-and-ready women of the ilk of Tracey Emin, Elizabeth Hurley and Katie Price – who supposedly exposed her breasts at a party with Johnson and called their Russian host “you guv” – to royals including Prince William and his father Prince Charles.
Two stories to keep beside you
Is Evgeny Lebedev’s Goose Cooked?
As the government is forced to publish confidential security advice about him, is Evgeny Lebedev’s goose cooked asks Matthew Steeples?
Bosie – Stop Clowning Around
Matthew Steeples suggests Boris Johnson needs to stop clowning around and tell the truth about his strategy to fight COVID-19 and Omicron this winter.
Wolf owning Lebedev – whose ex-billionaire and self-professed “ex-oligarch” father Alexander was a KGB agent in the 1980s and 1990s – is as comfortable sleeping out at a fundraiser for homeless people (with his very close chum Johnson) as he is living it up with Kate Moss and he’s definitely a dark master of the art of self-promotion.
In his quest for that and a position of social standing also, ownership of the Evening Standard – where he gave Boris’ former colleague and backer George Osborne the position of editor between 2017 and 2020 in spite him having no editorial expertise – and associations with luvvies including Stephen Fry and Sir Ian McKellan most definitely have helped, but it is for his family’s “opaque relationship with Putin” that he is more worthy of note.
Now, as the psychopathic Russian tyrant pounds Ukraine with bombs, Lebedev Jr. has sensibly come out and called for the tyrannical President to “seize the moment” and “end this war” (a clear contrast to his father’s “Putin is not the villain” attitude in 2016), but equally, today, I ask Lord Lebedev: “Why don’t you actually, for once, go to the House of Lords – since you were happy to take a seat there – and speak up and condemn this rotten war in the chamber?”
If he did bother to attend and speak out against Putin, maybe, just maybe people might respect this social butterfly a little bit more; if he doesn’t, it just shows Evgeny Lebedev’s elevation to be what many have quite justifiably called it – a ‘Carrie On’ of yet more corrupt Conservative cronyism.
Pictured top – Left: The life peer – termed a “crucial media player with a very interesting background” and someone “often overlooked” by ‘Byline Times’ in October 2019 – with his “exotic pet” wolf Boris (named not after the Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but instead after Boris Yeltsin) and right: With the aforementioned PM and his Ghislaine Maxwell apologist sister Rachael Johnson.
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2 comments
Well said Mathew!
Beyond his acknowledged ‘pride’ in becoming the first Russian to sit in the House of Lords, surely the real pride that someone there has a right to feel, is when they take personal responsibility: ie stand up & speak out for the greater good, about what is avceptable & what is not.
For what is the purpose for him to be there?
No doubt to do so is scary, possobly breaks KGB codes of honour, but where is the honour in what is happening to innocent civilians?
Innocent civilians include those in Russia, Ukraine & beyond, who are doing their bit to support those whoose lives have been devastated by Putins decisions.
So beyond the pomp of this role, I feel he needs to show he has earnt this by contributing to the actual work of the House of Lords.
We need to get to the bottom of all this dirty money and Russian links within our Government. Even Sunak’s wife and family are under the microscope now. There is much more going on in this regard than meets the eye. Boris Johnson and his ex-henchman Cummings have been worshipping all things Russian since they were teenagers. They are not alone. An article on the web entitled Britain’s Dismal Dossier on Russian Political Infiltration by Bill Fairclough ex-spook and author of TheBurlingtonFiles actually names over 60 people with “Russian links” known to Boris Johnson and/or Dominic Cummings who may have influenced their past decisions. If you read the report and especially the short articles referred to in it do ask yourself if you have as many friends and acquaintances from any foreign nation as Johnson and/or Cummings have somehow accumulated in Russia. Why should anyone believe Johnson puts his country before himself or believe his anti-Russian rhetoric? In 2016 when campaigning for Brexit he accused the EU of provoking Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. Indeed, Johnson/Cummings delivered Brexit beyond Putin’s wildest dreams. Combine Brexit with Trump’s divisiveness and no wonder Putin concluded the USA/EU/UK/NATO club was a crippled anachronism. We need answers to questions posed in that searching article such as were Trump, Johnson et al influenced by Russian intelligence prior to becoming political bigwigs? Each of them could have been unwittingly manipulated – after all, flattery is a narcissist’s best friend.