Arron Banks Hires Private Spies to Target Conservative Chair

Businessman and Reform UK backer Arron Banks commissioned a private intelligence firm to investigate Kevin Hollinrake, the chair of the Conservative Party, and Gabriel Pogrund, the investigations editor of the Sunday Times. The surveillance took place while Hollinrake was leading the Conservative response to inquiries regarding a £5 million undeclared gift given to Nigel Farage by crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

Banks, who previously owned the firm Precision Risk and Intelligence, suggested he acted independently of Reform UK. The News Media Association condemned the use of private investigators to deter journalistic inquiry into public figures, describing the actions as an attack on democracy.

Concurrent with the surveillance revelations, the Sunday Times published a new investigation into links between Reform funders and Tether.bet, a website accused of offering illegal gambling to UK citizens.