Burnham is in retreat over Russia Brexit 'lies': Boris and Farage blast PM's referendum claim

The Prime Minister was in retreat last night over his 'lies' about Russian interference in the Brexit referendum.

In an embarrassing U-turn Andy Burnham admitted he has no evidence that the Kremlin meddled in the 2016 vote, a claim he made just 24 hours earlier.

Yesterday Boris Johnson told the Daily Mail that 'Burnham's Brexit lies have come back to bite him'. And Nigel Farage branded Mr Burnham's comments 'outrageous', adding: 'The Prime Minister is a liar.'

Despite the climbdown, the PM vowed to press ahead with his bid to unpick Brexit, claiming it would be a 'dereliction of duty' to ignore the chance for a closer relationship with Brussels.

He said sticking with the status quo was 'not good enough for Britain' as he opened the door to a return to free movement with the EU after the next election.

Mr Burnham faced a fierce backlash after resurrecting discredited conspiracy theories on Sunday that the referendum result was influenced by Moscow.

He told the podcast The Rest is Politics, co-hosted by former Labour spin chief Alastair Campbell, that on arriving in No10 he had asked officials whether there was evidence Russia had interfered in the campaign.

'I've had the clear answer that yes, there was,' Mr Burnham said. 'These things are important now to put clearly on the record.'

Ministers, however, struggled to defend the claim yesterday and Downing Street was eventually forced to clarify that the PM accepts the referendum result was 'legitimate'.

In the Commons yesterday Tory leader Kemi Badenoch demanded the PM 'publish the evidence that Russia swung the result of the 2016 referendum'. She added: 'The Prime Minister implied that the result was illegitimate because of Russian interference. Where has that come from?

'We all remember that in 2018, the head of MI5 said that there was no evidence that Russia had influenced the EU referendum result.

'Even this morning, the Prime Minister's own foreign minister could not say if the evidence existed.'

Mr Burnham insisted he had 'implied no such thing'. He conceded he had no evidence that the Kremlin had influenced the outcome of the vote.

'It is a matter of record that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 general election, and we think it is inconceivable that this was the first time,' he said.

Mrs Badenoch last night said: 'The busiest job in Westminster is running after the PM with a dustpan and brush, sweeping up whatever he said five minutes earlier.

'Implying the 2016 referendum was illegitimate, until the entire Government communications machine scrambled to clarify what he said... Burnham is all over the place, making statements he clearly hasn't thought through.'

Ministers in successive governments have repeatedly denied conspiracy theories about Russian involvement in the Brexit result. A 2020 report by the Commons intelligence and security committee found no evidence of successful interference.

In January this year, the security minister Dan Jarvis said: 'Successive governments have not seen any evidence of successful foreign interference in the European Union referendum.'

Last night Mr Johnson accused Mr Burnham of a cynical ploy designed to win over pro-EU Lib Dem and Green voters and said his claims were 'just not true'.

The former prime minister said the security services had assured him in government that Russia had not successfully interfered in the Brexit result, adding: 'Either the security services have changed their view - which would be very odd - or Burnham is lying about what he has been told.'

Mr Johnson told the Daily Mail: 'Burnham will do and say whatever he thinks is expedient. 

He wants to call an early election and he is trying to give Lib Dem and Green voters enough grounds to believe he might reverse Brexit so that they vote for him.' 

Meanwhile, Mr Farage told a press conference in Kent: 'The Prime Minister is a liar. Yes, a liar. When Boris Johnson became foreign secretary, one of the first questions he asked was, 'Was there seen to be Russian interference in the referendum campaign?' And the answer was no.

'There was no Russian interference, and the Russia hoax has run all the way through this... This is an out of touch, out of date Andy Burnham with all sorts of bizarre ideas.'

The PM's comments are the latest in a series of interventions seemingly designed to discredit the referendum result as he moves to unpick the Brexit deal.

Speaking to reporters while travelling to New York last month, Mr Burnham stopped short of directly blaming Moscow but claimed that Brexit had been driven by 'outside forces' trying to 'manipulate opinion'.

'I'm reflecting on that last decade,' he said. 'What we've experienced is that turbulence comes when outside actors seek to manipulate, to distort facts [and] influence the British democratic process.'

In a speech to the United Nations the following day, he said Russia was spending £1.3billion a year on manipulating information. 

'We're talking about an insidious campaign that reaches into people's homes and twists what they feel about their own country and community - creating a narrative of decline, stoking division and sowing despair.'

Tory frontbencher Ben Obese-Jecty said the PM was 'clearly laying the groundwork for rejoining [the EU] by casting doubt on the result and throwing red meat to his base'.

Mr Burnham said he would use a summit with the EU in Brussels on November 20 to discuss options for a closer relationship with Europe. He has previously said this could include going 'all the way' and rejoining.

He told the Commons yesterday that the public mood on Brexit had changed since 2016 and insisted the 'British people will be the boss of whatever is decided'.

But he sowed confusion about whether the public would get a direct say on any deal, saying: 'No one... today is proposing a referendum.'

Mrs Badenoch said the PM's bid to cosy up to Brussels made a mockery of his claim during the Makerfield by-election in June that 'the last thing we should do right now is rerun those arguments' about Brexit.

The PM insisted yesterday that a closer deal with the EU could boost growth, telling MPs: 'Sticking with the status quo is not good enough for Britain. Worse, it would be a major dereliction of duty to turn away.

'We need to take a calm, clear-eyed, rational look at the world as it is today, to consider what is best for our country.' He said Labour would stick to its manifesto 'red lines' on the single market, customs union and free movement during this Parliament.

But he refused to rule out a return to free movement after the next election, despite concerns among some Red Wall Labour MPs.

Pendle and Clitheroe MP Jonathan Hinder asked Mr Burnham to guarantee that 'as long as he is Prime Minister, there will be no return to freedom of movement'.

The PM said he would 'fully respect' Labour's manifesto, but added: 'We have to look at the options that are available for the long-term relationship.

'In the next decade, this country needs to know where it is going. There are no assumptions here.'

Former Labour leader Lord Kinnock last night said 'Burnham's objective is to join' the EU again.

A former EU commissioner, he told Italian newspaper La Repubblica: 'He's always been a committed pro-European. In the by-election, he rightly didn't make a noise about it.'