The russia report and the power of ideas | thearticle

“Now I know this is happening, I have to tell the PM,” declares Jim Hacker in “Yes Minister”. He had been told of security concerns over dealings with a foreign Government. The Chief Whip,

Vic Gould, thought such a disclosure would be a very bad idea. There would have to be an enquiry that could be very embarrassing and cause thousands of jobs to be lost as a result of trade

restrictions. Gould told Hacker angrily: “Just because you’ve caught something nasty, why do you have to wander about breathing over everyone?” I was reminded of this sketch when reading the

Intelligence and Security Committee claim that the Government had failed to act against Russian interference in our political arrangements. The contention was that it was “hot potato” and

that the most prudent course would be to ignore the matter. Naturally, there are some partisan considerations. The SNP MP Stewart Hosie, a member of the Committee, said: “There should have

been an assessment of Russian interference in the EU referendum and there must now be one, and the public must be told the results of that assessment.” What about an “assessment” of Russian

support for Scottish independence? The report does acknowledge “there has been credible open source commentary suggesting that Russia undertook influence campaigns in relation to the

Scottish independence referendum in 2014,” and that was “potentially the first post-Soviet Russian interference in a Western democratic process.” Alex Salmond, now hosts a TV show on the

Russia Today station. Hosie responds that he doesn’t want to get into “a criticism of any particular individual.” Kevan Jones, a Labour MP on the committee, said claims by Downing Street

that it delayed publication of the report to have time to respond were “not true”. The implication is that the real motive was to avoid a report critical of the Government until after the

election took place last December. Bureaucratic delays can be annoying but the Government’s response is certainly detailed and thorough. In terms of political expediency, it would have been

advantageous to the Conservatives if the report had been published last year. It is a bit of a damp squib. There is no great revelation. Just a lot of worthy references to the need to be

aware of the Russian threat, which the Government has accepted but insists they had already spotted. As it was, the story about the report being delayed did put Boris Johnson on the

defensive during the election campaign. Speaking of that campaign, another tricky point for the Conservatives came when Labour announced they had got hold of a leaked document — 451 pages of

documents on trade talks with the United States. Jeremy Corbyn claimed they showed that the NHS “will be up for sale”. They showed nothing of the kind. But Labour was reheating a leak to

the Reddit website for which the Russians were “almost certainly” responsible. Where is the indignation from Jones about that?