Top Tories have scrambled to defend Boris Johnson from fresh criticism over his decision to hand a peerage to a Russian-born media mogul.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid insisted anyone who receives a peerage had been properly vetted after a report claimed the head of MI6 held security concerns over Evgeny Lebedev being elevated to the House of Lords.
Boris Johnson said last week that it was "simply incorrect" that he had overruled security concern to ennoble Lord Lebedev in 2020.
Mr Javid was confronted on Sky News by one of his own tweets from 2020 where he said Lord Lebedev - whose oligarch father had been a KGB agent - was a "first generation immigrant Britain can be very proud of".
Asked if he stood by his words, Mr Javid said: "Yes, well I think we can be proud of people who have settled in the UK and have helped British businesses and given support for many charities and good causes.
"I've got no reason to doubt anything that I've said there."
He added: "Anyone who receives a peerage in the UK, they all have to be vetted by the House of Lords nominations commission and this case is no different."
Mr Javid said it was right for the commission to take the security advice into account, adding: "That's what happened here."
Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said on Sunday there was a “distinction to be drawn” between Lord Lebedev and his father, Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev, as he claimed no-one had “ever said to me that there are any specific security concerns” about the peer.
But Labour leader Keir Starmer said the Prime Minister has “serious questions” to answer in the wake of a Sunday Times report that claimed the head of MI6 held security concerns over the appointment.
Lord Lebedev acknowledged on Friday that his father was a KGB officer “a long time ago” but denied being “a security risk to this country”.
Mr Gove told the BBC : “I think there is a distinction to be drawn between the actions of parents and the actions of children.”
He added: “Again, I think it’s important to draw a distinction between Evgeny Lebedev’s father, who obviously, as you pointed out, worked for the KGB, and Lord Lebedev himself, who is someone who has made his home in this country.
“Of course, there are questions that are going to be asked, but no-one has ever said to me that there are any specific security concerns that they have about Lord Lebedev.”
Mr Starmer called for a “process” to take place, looking into how the peerage was granted.
He said: “Let’s have a process to look into what actually happened, what did the Prime Minister know and what did he do in response to that.
"I think that is the least we are entitled to in relation to this appointment.”
Speaking to Sky News, he said: “Of course, we shouldn’t just demonise people from Russia, I completely agree with that, but that isn’t the Lebedev case.
“The media today are saying there were further reservations by the security and intelligence services which were known before this appointment was made and we know that concerns were raised apparently with the Prime Minister.
“In light of the further revelations today, I think the Prime Minister has got serious questions to answer: What did he know? And did he override security advice?”
Lord Lebedev, who owns the Independent and Evening Standard newspapers, previously said in a statement on the Evening Standard website: “I am not a security risk to this country, which I love.
“My father a long time ago was a foreign intelligence agent of the KGB, but I am not some agent of Russia.”
