The government may be forced to release information about the decision to give newspaper mogul Evgeny Lebedev a seat in the House of Lords.
Boris Johnson has denied overriding security service concerns about giving the Russian-born businessman a peerage.
Advice from the Prime Minister’s Cabinet to the peer review committee is confidential.
But Labor is trying to force its publication through parliamentary procedures.
Lord Lebedev, who owns the Independent and London Evening Standard, was knighted for philanthropy and services to the media in July 2020 after being nominated by Mr Johnson.
The son of a former KGB agent-turned-banker, Lord Lebedev has denied posing a “security risk” to Britain, insisting he is “proud to be a British citizen and to call Britain my home”.
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It is known that Mr Johnson was aware of the security service’s concerns about granting Evgeny Lebedev a seat in the British Parliament.
Former Advisor No10 Dominic Cummings said he was “in the room” when the PM was told Intelligence officials had “serious reservations” about the move. Another source has confirmed to the BBC that security services have raised concerns.
According to press reports, the Prime Minister was advised against granting the peerage by the House of Lords Appointment Commission (HOLAC), which later changed its recommendation. HOLAC has declined to comment, apart from reviewing Lord Lebedev and advising the Prime Minister.
Labor is trying to force the Government to issue documents containing advice to or from the Prime Minister’s private office and the Cabinet Office to HOLAC in relation to Lord Lebedev’s peerage.
The party also wants the release of all relevant emails and the minutes of meetings where the peerage was discussed.
They will later submit a Humble Address motion, an obscure parliamentary procedure used by Sir Keir Starmer in 2017 to force the release of Brexit material. If passed, the government has until April 28 to publish the material. although it is not clear how much of this would be redacted for national security reasons.
Conservative MPs have been ordered to abstain rather than vote against the motion in a bid to stave off a rebellion by Tory MPs who also want the material published. This will likely increase the chances that the application will be accepted.
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