Reform UK donors have been urged to disclose the extent of alleged surveillance of journalists
Arron Banks, a British businessman and donor to the Reform UK party, has been called upon to explain the extent of alleged surveillance of journalists following reports that private investigators were hired to monitor a Sunday Times reporter. The News Media Association (NMA), which represents regional and national media in the UK, stated that the use of private investigators to obstruct legitimate journalistic inquiries is an attack on democracy, according to The Guardian.
The New Statesman was the first to report on Banks’s possible use of private investigators. According to the magazine, Banks instructed Precision Risk and Intelligence—a company he previously owned—to gather information on Gabriel Pogrand, editor of the Sunday Times’s investigative unit, Insight.
In a response to New Statesman, Banks stated that he believed the Sunday Times had used information obtained through hacking and that this was a matter of interest. He also mentioned having an investigative unit with extensive capabilities. When asked directly whether he had paid for the investigation into Pogrand, Banks replied with the phrase, “Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” The Sunday Times categorically rejected the allegations that it had used hacked information.
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NMA Director General Theo Bamber stated that intimidation and insults directed at local and national journalists are increasingly being used to limit public oversight and divert attention from issues of public interest. He called on ministers to strengthen protections for independent journalism.
Jemima Steinfeld, director of Index on Censorship, said that Banks should openly disclose the extent of any potential surveillance of journalists. She expressed concern that Pogrand might not be the only journalist targeted in this way due to investigations related to Reform UK.
Reform UK denied having any knowledge of Banks’s alleged use of private investigators. Party board member Gawain Tawler stated that he disapproved of such practices, while also raising questions about the sources of private information used by journalists. Former Conservative Party Minister of Culture, Media, and Sport Nicky Morgan stated that the investigation into the journalist could have a chilling effect on freedom of speech.
