Britain’s prime minister seems to have put a decade-old suspicion on the record. Andy Burnham said on Sunday, October 11, that Russia interfered in the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, according to The Guardian, Al Jazeera and DW. Speaking on “The Rest Is Politics” podcast, Burnham said, as quoted by The Guardian: “I asked the question coming to Downing Street: well, was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia? I’ve had the clear answer that yes, there was.”
Burnham offered the conclusion but not the case behind it. The Guardian reports that he did not disclose who had given him the assessment, what evidence it rested on, or whether any interference had affected the result. Al Jazeera, citing AP and Reuters, and DW both report that he did not provide evidence. DW reports that Burnham, who took over from Keir Starmer in July, became “the first British leader to openly complain of Russian tampering in the Brexit referendum a decade ago.”
The prime minister framed his remarks as a warning to European voters. “These things are important now to put clearly on the record and I believe help voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia,” he said, according to The Guardian. He added, in the same report: “I think we’ve been too much on the back foot on that, actually, and we haven’t informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas.”
Germany came up too. Burnham said he discussed the far-right Alternative für Deutschland with Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a visit to Berlin this week, The Guardian reports. “You know, he was saying to me that the AfD are clearly linked to Russia – funded, I believe,” Burnham said, according to The Guardian, adding: “There is certainly misinformation, disinformation, that is emanating from Russia into German politics.” Merz’s own words on the subject reach readers here only through Burnham’s account.
The claim marks a shift from earlier governments. The Guardian describes it as a significant departure from past Conservative governments, which insisted they saw no evidence of successful Russian interference in the referendum. DW notes that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who campaigned to leave the EU, said in 2020 that he saw no evidence of Russian sway. A 2020 report by Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee criticized the government and intelligence agencies for failing to properly investigate potential Russian interference, The Guardian reports, and found that ministers had not sought a full assessment of Moscow’s activities. According to Al Jazeera and DW, the same committee found that Russia had sought to influence Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum.
Moscow rejects the accusation. Russia has repeatedly denied meddling in Western democracies, Al Jazeera reports, casting the UK as gripped by “anti-Russian hysteria.” Seems News found no fresh Kremlin response to Burnham’s Sunday remarks in the three reports it read. Burnham had already raised the issue in September: in an address to the UN General Assembly, he said Moscow had tried to interfere in the UK’s 2019 general election, according to The Guardian and Al Jazeera.
The remarks land amid a wider debate over Britain and Europe. Last month Burnham opened the door to Britain eventually rejoining the EU, The Guardian reports, saying his government would examine all options for the future relationship with Brussels. DW cites YouGov tracking in which the share of people saying Britain made the wrong choice reached 60% last month, the highest on record, and quotes London School of Economics professor Iain Begg as skeptical that rejoining could happen quickly. The UK has begun developing a National Centre for Information Defence to detect and disrupt hostile state information campaigns, The Guardian reports, and a Downing Street spokesperson said: “We will continue to leave no stone unturned in our efforts to protect the UK from harm.” Pressure for Burnham to publish the assessment behind his claim seems likely to follow.
