Former Tory Rory Stewart has revealed he was invited to Evgeny Lebedev's Italian mansion for a party where "there were going to be girls" and Boris Johnson.
The former Conservative, who was a minister at the time, said he was approached at the Tory Party's conference in 2018 when he was "Boris Johnson's deputy" in the Foreign Office.
The Prime Minister, who was Foreign Secretary in 2018, is under pressure over his links to media mogul Evgeny Lebedev.
It follows reports claiming MI5 and MI6 raised concerns before the PM elevated Baron Lebedev -the son of ex-KGB officer and Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev – to the House of Lords in 2020.
Mr Stewart recalled the ”absolutely bizarre” conversation at the conference, and being told he would be "flown out" to a mansion.
"I remember just after I was appointed (...) deputy to Boris Johnson, someone came up to me at party conference and said, would you like to come and spend the weekend with Lebedev... lovely mansion, I think on Lake Como, there were going to be girls," he told Alastair Campbell’s ‘The Rest Is Politics’ podcast. It was going to be great. You will be flown over."
The 2018 party was reported by several outlets at the time. Mr Johnson allegedly flew to the party and returned looking ‘dishevelled’ without his ministerial protection officers, prompting furious speculation.
Mr Stewart, who stood against the PM for the party leadership in 2019, recalled the 1961 Profumo scandal, saying John Profumo "lost his job for a lot less".
The former Conservative was revealed to be conducting an affair with a woman who was also sleeping with a Russian spy.
Mr Campbell asked Mr Stewart "what sort of girls", the invite was referring to, to which he replied: "I think it was a model. I said you have got to be kidding me, right? I have just become foreign minister.
"There is no way I can possibly go. The guy's father is a KGB agent. I have never met him before in his life. I can't be flown off to some villa, at which point the person said, don't worry Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, is coming.
"So, I have been sort of puzzled and bemused by this whole thing for years now. I didn't go but I think it is the one which Jemima Goldsmith describes in which one of the guests takes her top off at the table.
"But the idea that the foreign secretary would think this is a respectable thing to do with his weekend is staggering. The Profumo guy lost his job for a lot less than that."
The Mirror has contacted Lord Lebedev for comment.
