Key facts
- Arron Banks, a Reform UK member, is accused of hiring private investigators to look into Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund.
- Banks allegedly used his former firm, Precision Risk and Intelligence, for the surveillance.
- The journalist had reported on financial backing for Nigel Farage from George Cottrell.
- Banks alluded to Reform UK having an "investigative arm" when questioned.
- The Sunday Times denied using hacked information and condemned the alleged surveillance.
- The Metropolitan police are investigating Reform UK's finances.
Arron Banks, a prominent Reform UK member and Brexit campaigner, is alleged to have hired private investigators to examine Gabriel Pogrund, a journalist for The Sunday Times. Pogrund, who edits the newspaper's Insight investigations team, has been instrumental in breaking several stories concerning Reform UK and its leader, Nigel Farage.
Banks reportedly instructed Precision Risk and Intelligence, a firm he previously owned, to conduct the investigation into Pogrund. The detail emerged in a report by the New Statesman. When approached for comment, Banks did not deny the allegations, stating, "When you live by the sword, you die by the sword." He also alluded to Reform UK possessing an "investigative arm" with "advanced capabilities."
The reporting by The Sunday Times and The Guardian has focused on the flow of funds into Reform UK and to Farage personally from various donors. Pogrund is believed to have been specifically targeted following a story that revealed Farage received financial backing from George Cottrell, a convicted criminal known as "Posh George." Cottrell reportedly covered Farage's security, accommodation, and social media support, and allegedly helped broker Farage's return to Reform UK leadership.
Further reporting detailed donations from Fiona Cottrell, George Cottrell's mother, to Reform UK and to Britain Means Business, a company owned by Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice. These donations later became the subject of a suspicious activity report by the National Crime Agency, which flags potential money laundering. The Metropolitan police are currently investigating Reform UK's finances, and both George and Fiona Cottrell have been interviewed under caution.
The Sunday Times has refuted any suggestion that its reporting was based on illegally sourced information, describing the alleged hiring of private investigators to surveil its journalists as "reprehensible." The newspaper stated its stories were based on "responsible and professional journalism."