Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum
Russian interference in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum is a debated subject and remains unproven, though multiple sources argue evidence exists demonstrating that the Russian government attempted to influence British public opinion in favour of leaving the European Union.[1] Investigations into this subject have been undertaken by the UK Electoral Commission, the UK Parliament's Culture Select Committee and Intelligence and Security Committee, and the United States Senate.[2][3] "The Russia Report" published by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament in July 2020 did not specifically address the Brexit campaign, but it concluded that Russian interference in UK politics is commonplace.[4][5] It also found substantial evidence that there had been interference in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.[6][5]
Timeline[edit]
Background[edit]
After the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum on the UK leaving the EU ("Brexit"), Prime Minister David Cameron suggested that Russia "might be happy" with a positive Brexit vote. The official Remain campaign accused the Kremlin of secretly backing a positive Brexit vote.[7]
Questions about Arron Banks' funding[edit]
British Journalist Isabel Oakeshott stated in an article for the Times: "As part of my research I uncovered controversial information about links between Arron Banks and his associate Andy Wigmore and the Russian embassy in London. The relationship began in autumn 2015, when Banks was gearing up for the Brexit campaign, and continued throughout the referendum and beyond. The Kremlin was simply doing what it does so well: identifying individuals who might be useful to President Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical aims and seeing what might come of it.
In Banks and Wigmore it literally struck gold. In due course, Banks would become the single biggest donor to the Brexit campaign, putting him at the heart of British politics. Banks and Wigmore genuinely sympathised — and continue to sympathise — with some of Putin’s political views. Banks, after all, is married to a Russian. My analysis is that Banks and Wigmore were shamelessly used by the Russians."[59]
Arron Banks was the largest donor to the Brexit campaign. Prior to the donations, Southern Rock, Banks' underwriting company was technically insolvent and needed to find £60m to meet regulations.[60] It was saved by a £77m cash injection, mostly in September 2015 from another company, ICS Risk Solutions. According to openDemocracy, when questioned by MP Rebecca Pow, "Banks implied that this was simply him shuffling money between two companies he owns".[61] They have also reported that, while Banks has stated that he owns 90 per cent of the company he appears to actually own between 50 and 75% according to filings from a subsidiary, "suggest[ing] there may be an undeclared shareholder."[62]
At the time, Louise Kentish of a company called STM joined the board. The day after the referendum, her husband Alan Kentish, CEO of STM and two other STM people joined as well.[63] STM specialises in opaque wealth management using trusts and similar.[63]
Around the same time, September 2015, Banks, along with Andy Wigmore, started having multiple meetings with Russian officials posted at the Russian embassy in London.[64][65]
Also according to his South African business partner, Christopher Kimber,[66] Banks had been in Russia trying to raise funds around that time: "I was finally made aware in October [2015] that in truth, Banks had been dealing with Russians who contemplated investing in the mines.... I was informed by Banks that he had travelled to Russia and discussed with them the diamond opportunities as well as gold mining opportunities in Russia. He further indicated that he would be meeting with the Russians again during November [2015]."[67]
Months after the cash injection Banks started making large donations to political causes including the £8m to the Brexit campaigns. The UK's Electoral Commission stated "we have reasonable grounds to suspect that: Mr Banks was not the true source of the £8m reported as loans" leading to the 2018 criminal investigation of Banks.[37][68][63][60]
Banks states there was no Russian money and sent financial statements to the BBC's Newsnight programme to prove it but an email attached to the statements included the text "Redact the reference for Ural Properties and any references which include sensitive info e.g. the account numbers the money was sent from." Newsnight featured a story about this on 8 November 2018. It remains to be seen which accounts these are or what Ural Properties, a Gibraltar-based company, does.[69][70]
On 13 September 2019, the Metropolitan Police concluded that while "it is clear that whilst some technical breaches of electoral law were committed by Leave.EU in respect of the spending return submitted for their campaign, there is insufficient evidence to justify any further criminal investigation",[71][72] and on 24 September 2019, the National Crime Agency said it had found no evidence of criminality in respect of the issues raised by the Electoral Commission and that no further action would be taken.[73] This left investigations of Banks closed.
Russia report[edit]
On 17 October 2019, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament delivered to the Government "The Russia report" into allegations of Russian interference in British politics, including alleged Russian interference in the referendum.[74][40] The government (led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson), which formally has authority to control the timing of its release to the public, refused to do so before the 2019 United Kingdom general election in December.[75] A number of legal actions tried to force the government to publish it.[76] In November, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism started a crowdfunding exercise to raise funds for legal action to force the British government to release the report.[77] In July 2020 the report was released by the ISC led by chairman Julian Lewis MP [5]
The report said the government “had not seen or sought evidence of successful interference in UK democratic processes,” and an official UK government response said: “We have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU referendum.”[5]
The report also stated that the government had made minimal effort to investigate potential Russian interference into the Brexit referendum other than consulting open-source commentary.[5] The report discussed more broadly Russian interference in British politics, including an extensive "laundromat" of Russian investment into the United Kingdom often connected to the Russian state and the Putin-linked elite.[78][79] It discussed the likely effect on politics and that many members of the House of Lords have business interests in Russia.[79] The report stated that no government ministry took significant interest or specific responsibility in investigation, and that the British intelligence community believed election integrity was not a major focus.[79] It stated the presence of Russian intelligence in the UK is significant and poses a risk to Russian expatriates who criticise Putin.[78]
The report describes the United Kingdom as one of Russia's "top targets" and said it is "seen as central to the Western anti-Russian lobby".[80]
In September 2020, the Electoral Commission raised concerns about Russia-linked donations to the Tories that occurred prior to the Brexit referendum.[81][82] In October 2021, the Pandora Papers revealed more information about the potentially Kremlin-linked donations and multiple others.[83]