Meeting of
prime minister and comedian at East End pub was brokered by Evgeny Lebedev
The Guardian.com,
Rowena Mason, political correspondent, 18 August 2013
David Cameron secretly met the comedian Stephen Fry in an East End pub to discuss Russia's anti-gay rights laws, as the prime minister faced new calls to raise the issue with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit.
Stephen Fry at a protest in London over gay rights in Russia. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA |
David Cameron secretly met the comedian Stephen Fry in an East End pub to discuss Russia's anti-gay rights laws, as the prime minister faced new calls to raise the issue with Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit.
The highly
unusual meeting was brokered by Evgeny Lebedev, son of the billionaire Russian
Alexander Lebedev, owner of the Independent, after Fry publicly called for a
boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi next year.
Cameron is
under pressure from activists including Fry to condemn new laws in Russia that
impose heavy fines on anyone disseminating information about homosexuality to
under 18s.
The issue
has been in the spotlight as Moscow is hosting the world athletics
championships, where there have been protests by sportsmen and women.
Fry, who
has more than six million followers on Twitter, is an influential voice in the
campaign to boycott the Sochi Games, comparing the situation to the decision to
hold the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.
After Fry
called for "an absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics", Cameron
tweeted a reply saying that attending the event was a better way of challenging
prejudice.
It is
understood the two men met on Monday night, two days after the Twitter
exchange, for drinks at the Grapes pub in Limehouse. The pub is jointly owned
by Lebedev and the actor Ian McKellen.
Fry has
maintained his silence on Twitter about the meeting, but sources said it was a
friendly conversation rather than official talks. A spokesman for Lebedev said
the matter was private.
Fry has
previously said he "instinctively dislikes" the Conservatives but
admires Cameron's achievement in legalising gay marriage.
On Sunday
campaigners said Cameron had still not made it clear what he would do about
Russia's stance on gay rights, despite winning positive publicity for his
meeting with Fry.
Peter
Tatchell, the veteran human rights and LGBT campaigner, said: "It's great
that David Cameron met Stephen Fry but what's the actual outcome of this
meeting? David Cameron said he wouldn't support a boycott of Sochi Winter
Olympics but he hasn't said what he'll do himself."
Tatchell,
whose presence at Downing Street functions has been repeatedly vetoed in recent
years, said a coalition of gay rights groups would hold a protest outside
Downing Street in early September as part of a new campaign called Love Russia,
Hate Homophobia.
"It
will be just before the G20 summit hosted by President Putin," Tatchell
told the Guardian. "The main message of this is directed at David Cameron.
We want him to give an undertaking that he will raise the issue at the G20 summit
and to publicly appeal to President Putin to repeal the anti-gay laws. Our hope
is that the London protest on 3 September will turn into a global
protest."
Russia has
reacted defensively to the public pressure over its new laws, with its sports
minister, Vitaly Mutko, claiming on Sunday that it was an "invented problem" whipped up by western media.
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