Boris #Johnson and Theresa May were told in 2016 of #Trump& #39;s & #39;suspicious links& #39; to #Russia, new book by Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch claims. The British government "made a political decision not to push the matter further" - me for @guardian https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/22/donald-trump-links-to-russia-steele-dossier-uk-book-claims?CMP=share_btn_tw">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...

In an interview last week, Simpson told me the Kremlin was seeking to influence British and EU politics in the same way it did in the US during the 2016 election. And that Moscow may have boosted Leave during the EU referendum in a "comparable way"

Simpson: "There is a general awareness that #Russian money has been pouring into the #British political system. No-one in power wants to have that conversation. There is a wilful blindness and determination to look the other way"

The #Kremlin’s playbook in UK follows a similar pattern seen elsewhere in Europe, Simpson told me. It features Russian émigrés who make large donations to Eurosceptic and populist political parties. Moscow targets the west& #39;s "soft underbelly": its political system