The chief of MI5 has urged Andy Burnham to stop talking about Russia’s attempted interference in the Brexit referendum.
Ken McCallum spoke out just days after the prime minister raised the issue on the Rest Is Politics podcast.
In remarks that led to a fresh political row, the PM said: “I asked the question coming to Downing Street, was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia?
“And I’ve had the clear answer that yes, there was.”
Just a day later, 10 Downing Street was forced to admit that the Russian interference had made no difference to the Leave vote.
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage called Burnham a “liar” over the remarks while the Tories’s shadow communities secretary Katie Lam accused the PM of peddling “conspiracy theories”.
McCallum did confirm that Russia had tried to influence the outcome of the referendum – but said raising the issue a decade later was counter-productive.
In his annual speech outlining the security threats facing the UK, he said Moscow had spread Eurosceptic content via Kremlin-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik, and by using social media troll accounts.
However, the spy chief said there was a significant difference between “what may have been attempted and what actually resulted”.
He said that any Russian impact on the campaign would have been marginal at best – and expressed concern about letting this debate rage once again.
He said: “There is a really important difference between interference attempted and outcome swayed.
“It’s quite important to focus on the difference between what may have been attempted and what actually resulted.”
“It is up to us how far we allow our adversaries to divide us,” he continued.
“I’m a little bit worried that if we all stay in this debate for another few days, the Russian trolls who didn’t appear to do all that much at various points over the years, they’ll be delighted they are front page news once again despite the comparative unimpressed-ness of what they do at all points along the journey.
“I’m a little bit interested that we don’t play into our adversaries’ hands by making these trolls look ten feet tall. That is not our experience here.”
The Head of the Security Services also described Russia as “aggressor number one as Putin’s Kremlin continues to lash out at the UK and its allies”.
He said Moscow was attempting to intimidate Britain for its support over Ukraine.
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