What will the Russia report reveal about Moscow’s influence on the Brexit referendum?

The review may finally see the light of day after delays, writes Sean O'Grady. And it could reveal all about relationships between emigres and the heart of government

A Brexit-themed billboard in east London (AFP/Getty)

Lapsing into cliche for a moment, like a Boris Bus in London, you wait all year for a news story about Russian hacking, and then all of a sudden three arrive at once – on vaccines, on the 2019 election and, soon, an investigation into the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Coincidence? It hardly seems likely. In fact, beyond the common factor that agents, formal or informal, of Vladimir Putin’s bandit regime are responsible for them, it is better to treat all three separately, with some contextualisation.

After a botched attempt by Downing Street to rig the chairmanship of the independent parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), its new chair (Julian Lewis) and its cross-party membership have unanimously agreed to publish the delayed report into Russian involvement in the Brexit referendum in 2016. Leading members of the present administration – Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove – were of course prominent decision-making figures in that controversial campaign.