Labour MP Chris Bryant was left furious when BBC Radio 5 Live scrapped an interview with him just 25 minutes before he was due to be on air. He had been set to give his opinion on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as the chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Russia.
Mr Bryant has repeatedly called on the Government to sanction Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich for his close links to Vladimir Putin.
He has also previously called for a full review of so-called “golden visas” for wealthy foreign investors, which he said had been used by “dodgy Russian oligarchs”.
After the national broadcaster cancelled this morning’s interview citing the lack of time for a pre-briefing, Mr Bryant accused the BBC of “playing the game” of Russian oligarchs.
He said on social media: “Interesting BBC 5 Live just cancelled an interview with me at 7.30 because their lawyers couldn’t vet what I was going to say beforehand.
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The broadcaster added that Mr Bryant would likely be invited back to speak on the topic at another point.
Last week Mr Bryant used Parliamentary privilege to share “a leaked document from 2019 from the Home Office” which he claimed referred to Mr Abramovich.
“As part of HMG’s Russia strategy aimed at targeting illicit finance and malign activity, Abramovich remains of interest to HMG due to his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices,” he claimed it stated.
He went on to say: “Surely Mr Abramovich should no longer be able to own a football club in this country?
“Surely we should be looking at seizing some of his assets including his £152million home?
“And making sure that other people who have had Tier 1 visas like this are not engaged in malign activity?”
Earlier in the week Prime Minister Boris Johnson incorrectly stated that Mr Abramovich was already facing sanctions imposted by the UK as a result of Putin’s invasion.
He admitted afterwards that he had “misspoke”.
