Let’s Putin the boot properly this time
“ANY fool can commit murder, but it takes an artist to make it look like suicide,” the KGB used to say.
They also wanted to highlight Western impotence, to show how the liberal, democratic world struggles to deal with attacks that come wrapped in a cloak of deniability.
As the public inquiry into Alexander Litvinenko’s murder demonstrated, it is almost impossible to come up with documentary proof that these attacks have been directly ordered by Moscow. But, as the inquiry concluded, the circumstantial evidence is strong.
This attempted murder breaks the normal rules of the world of espionage in several ways.
Whoever carried out the attack on Skripal wanted to highlight Western impotence, to show how the liberal, democratic world struggles to deal with attacks that come wrapped in a cloak of deniability
First, those spies who have been swapped — as Skripal had — have traditionally been left alone. After all, the point of a spy swap is eliminated if one side is still trying to kill those they handed over.
Second, the attack was carried out in such a way as to endanger others. The policeman who went to the Skripals’ aid is in hospital and 180 military personnel have had to be deployed to Salisbury to deal with potential contamination.
The Russians have form on this front. When Litvinenko was murdered in London, his attackers left a trail of radioactive polonium around the city.
After the public inquiry into his death concluded his assassination was “probably approved” by Putin, the UK did little.
The Cameron government — in which Theresa May was Home Secretary — effectively decided that Russian co-operation in the fight against Islamist terrorism was more important than punishing it for carrying out a murder on British soil.
This time it must be different. The UK needs to make clear that Russia will pay a price for this kind of behaviour. Britain should, obviously, not start poisoning people in Moscow in retaliation. But we should set about causing problems for Putin in other ways.
We need to lean into the cyber fight. We should use social media to spread the word in Russia about just how rich Putin, his family, and his cronies are.
Ahead of the Russian elections later this month, Putin released details of his wealth. They suggested he had around £175,000 in the bank, some shares in a bank, a flat and a few sports cars.
But considering that his son-in-law had to essentially give away close to $2billion worth of shares when he broke up with Putin’s daughter, it is safe to assume his real worth is massively more than this. Indeed, on one estimate he is the richest man in the world.
Getting this information out there in Russia would embarrass Putin.
Combine this with far sharper sanctions on his associates, allies and enablers and his gang would think twice about letting people carry out assassination attempts on British soil.
Law makes Brexit more secure
THE Brexit inner Cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday afternoon. It is not, however, expected to come up with a response to the EU’s rebuff of Theresa May’s big Brexit speech.
No10 believes that the draft EU negotiating guidelines issued on Wednesday are more flexible than they at first appear.
They point out that while they might not mention financial services, they don’t rule out a deal there. They also stress that this is a negotiation and the two sides were never going to agree straight away.
In a sign of the parliamentary drama to come when the Commons has its “meaningful vote” on exit, I understand that key players on both sides have already taken legal advice.
I am told that advice seen by one senior member of the Vote Leave campaign states that the Commons could only force the Government to withdraw its Article 50 notification through an Act of Parliament.
None of the procedural devices that are easily available to the Government’s opponents, such as a humble address, would work.
Ironically, the case brought by Gina Miller, which ended with Parliament having to legislate before Article 50 could be invoked, has made Brexit far more secure than it otherwise would have been.
SAJID JAVID briefed the Cabinet on Tuesday on the Government’s plans to improve integration. He told them about problems caused by a website called secondwife.com, where Muslim men could go to find brides for a polygamous marriage. As ministers looked shocked, Javid quipped that he’d only been on the site for research purposes.
In all seriousness, Javid has a crucial role in promoting integration. As someone born to immigrant parents, he understands the importance of people learning English and settling in to British society.
And unlike so many other politicians, he isn’t afraid to speak frankly about this issue.
HO-HUM. IT’S TIME FOR HAMM
WHEN Philip Hammond is telling people that something is going to be dull, you can be pretty sure it will be.
Hammond intends to make Tuesday’s Spring Statement as uneventful as possible.
He plans to come to the House of Commons to update MPs on the growth forecasts, which will show the economy performing better than expected, take questions from MPs, then go home.
Many in the Treasury would like to see it reduced. They believe its current level deters firms from expanding, as they don’t want the hassle of having to register for VAT and fill in endless forms.
In the Budget, Hammond announced that this threshold would be frozen for two years from April. He also said that while he wasn’t minded to cut it, he wanted its design to “better incentivise growth”.
Hammond, though, must avoid anything that makes life more difficult for small businesses.
The last thing they need in their life is more bureaucracy and paperwork.
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I'm Gavin with the IN crowd
TORY eyebrows are once again being raised at the energy with which Gavin Williamson is working the party.
Amid the snow last Friday, he could be found addressing the dinner of the Conservative Local Government conference. I am told that Williamson went down very well and that he assiduously worked the room afterwards; no hand went unshaken.
The councillors there will, obviously, play a crucial role in the next Tory leadership contest.
This week his team were also offering all Tory MPs a chance to have their photo taken with the Defence Secretary.
However, they then had to cancel the photoshoot because Williamson had to attend a Government crisis meeting following the Salisbury poisonings.
James Forsyth is political editor of The Spectator
