British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has denied he helped British–Russian media mogul Evgeny Lebedev secure a seat in the House of Lords by intervening to override concerns raised by the security services. A report in The Sunday Times alleged that intelligence provided by MI5 and MI6 to the House of Lords Appointments Commission initially said granting the peerage to Lebedev could pose a national security threat. But the report said the security services withdrew the assessment after the prime minister personally intervened. In response to the report, Johnson told reporters on Monday that it would “obviously be extraordinary” if the security services had deemed Lebedev to be a risk and the prime minister had intervened to ensure the peerage was granted, “but that’s not the case.” “That is simply incorrect,” he said. “It suits Putin’s agenda to try to characterise this as a struggle between the West and Russia.” Johnson …