Boris Johnson’s dad wants Brexit re-run over ‘obvious’ Russia meddling

Stanley Johnson, a former European Commission employee and ex-MEP, accused Moscow of meddling in the 2016 vote, during which his son spearheaded the Leave campaign.

Unlike the foreign secretary, Mr Johnson senior backed Remain at the EU referendum.

He became a reality TV star last year by appearing on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, in which he was the sixth contestant to leave the show.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said: “It’s perfectly obvious the Russians were pretty heavily involved in the American election, more and more comes out, and it’s perfectly obvious to me at least that there is far more in the Brexit vote than has so far come out.”

Asked if he meant Russian involvement, Mr Johnson added: “Yes, absolutely. We are getting the Facebook stuff, the data which went into Facebook, all the tweets, and above all, some mega event like a massive migration crisis in the run-up to the 2016 election.

“If it was proved conclusively that everything I said happened, happened then you might say, some might say, was this a fair fight?

“Let’s not have a second referendum but let’s have a re-run of the first.”

The House of Commons’ digital, culture, media and sport committee asked Facebook to investigate possible Russian propaganda activity around the EU referendum.

Earlier this year, the social media giant reported 71p was spent by Russian-based actors on advertisements that targeted British users in the run-up to the 2016 vote.

Asked how his son would react to his comments, Mr Johnson senior said: “He is always relaxed, he is a very fine, relaxed man doing a fantastic job as foreign secretary.”

Speaking at a press conference alongside his Russian counterpart in Moscow last year, the foreign secretary said Russian efforts to meddle in UK elections “have not been successful”.