Clip from 2018 Question Time shows then-minister wriggling to avoid answering question

Boris Johnson accepted £160,000 to play tennis with a Russian oligarch’s wife

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are the subject of a criminal file submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service by police. At the same time, the Tories have refused to disclose an intelligence services report on Russian activity in the UK, when the UK’s intelligence community has said there is no reason not to – rightly raising serious questions about what Boris Johnson wants to hide.

The Tories have accepted huge sums from Russian donors, with Boris Johnson playing tennis with a Russian oligarch’s wife for £160,000 and then-Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson accepting £30,000 to sit next to her at dinner.

Johnson faltered visibly when challenged over the tennis donation – but the Tories have continually failed to explain just what Russian donors expect in return for those enormous sums.

In 2018, then-front bencher Chris Grayling was asked directly about this during an episode of the BBC’s Question Time – and squirmed in order to avoid answering the question:

Just what don’t the Tories want the public to know?

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