Sir Julian Lewis

Sir Julian Lewis

Conservative — New Forest East

Speaking in the House of Commons on 4 December 2025

Debate

Dawn Sturgess Inquiry

Contribution

Have the Government formed a view as to why President Putin—the killer in the Kremlin—chose to target Sergei Skripal after he had been pardoned and exchanged? Nothing that I am saying now derives from my time chairing the Intelligence and Security Committee, but I recall speculation in the press that it was because Mr Skripal had been actively involved with either the British state or the military, or had in some way been, shall we say, active in opposing the Government of the country from which he had been exchanged. If that is the case, surely the conclusion in paragraph 8.18—that the only measures that could have prevented the attack “would have been such as to hide him completely with an entirely new identity”— should have been considered. It is rather surprising that it was not. Was Skripal engaged in anything that made him a target?

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