Reflections on Investigative Political Journalism

Thanks for listening to The Rest is Politics. To support the podcast, listen without the adverts, and get early access to episodes and live show tickets, go to therestispolitics.com. That's therestispolitics.com . Hello and welcome to the Restless Politics with me, Rory Stewart. And with me, Alistair Campbell, and we have very exciting news about a four-part mini-ser ies that we are doing on the funding of Reform UK. And we're doing it with the Observer and it's been an amazing piece of work. The series is put together by Kat Nealin, who's the Observer's Whitehall editor. In episode one, we begin the story of Who Funds Reform UK. So it's something that Alistair and I have been fascinated by for a very long time. And of course we get glimpses of it. Many people will have heard that Nigel Farage received a five million pound contribution towards his inverted commerce security from Chris Harborn, who is a crypto billionaire based in Thailand. But as this investigation shows, the story of reforms funding is much, much more complicated. And they've got some unique interviews here. They've interviewed Ben Habib, who was very close to Nigel Farage and is now beginning to talk much more openly about where some of this funding is coming from. We're talking about Tory donors crossing the aisles, we're talking about the kinds of motivations that drive them in, and above all, we're talking about how opaque it is and how mysterious it is and what on earth you have to do to save your democracy from a few very wealthy people putting in sums of money which are colossal. I mean so much larger than anything that you and I would have seen in politics. One of the reasons why we were interested in doing this is because we've seen what has happened in other countries where money is just allowed to flood in to the parties, to individuals. We're seeing it now with Trump in America. We saw it recently with Orban who when he lost his kind of wealth was exposed. We've seen it with Russia with Putin, who was gone from being, you know, the guy who took over saying he was going to lead Russia in a more modern western direction is becoming allegedly one of the richest people on the planet. So I think this is going to be an important series. I think it's timely because reform are on the march and a lot of people who support them , I suspect, do see them as on their side, men of the people, women of the people, who in fact are becoming hugely wealthy through politics. So something to listen to rather than to watch. And we'll also be putting out links and more details in the Trip Newsletter, which you can please sign up to by going in the episode to the description box and clicking on the link. So here is episode one of Who Funds Reform The Missing millions . This episode is brought to you by Fuse Energy. 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Visit fuseenergy.com for full terms and conditions . Now, for me, Brexit being completed, albeit not perfectly, but being completed marks the end of nearly 30 years of standing in elections and leading political parties. March 2021, a year into the COVID pandemic, and Nigel Farage makes a big decision . It's now time for somebody else to take the lead. The man who spent nearly 30 years campaigning for and helping to achieve Brexit has decided that he has had enough Nigel Farage hands over the reins of his political party to Richard Tice, an ally and fellow Brexiteer. indeed have a great future. But to achieve this goal, we are absolutely clear that the country needs real reform . Richard Tice is going to inject new energy and lead the newly named Reform Party while Farage rides off into the sunset . This isn't the first time Farage has stepped away from frontline politics, but he'll be back, perhaps sooner than anyone anticipates. Because just as Richard Tice steps forward as the new leader of reform, the conservative establishment begins to crumble. Let me say immediately that I've paid the fine and I once again offer a full apology. I am here to say to you, hand on heart, that I did not lie to the house. When those statements I have therefore spoken to his Majesty the King to notify him that I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party . As the Conservatives disintegrate in a series of unforced errors , reform becomes a magnet for figures across the right. I'm delighted to announce that I have found that champion of the Red Wall for Reform UK. He's also, coincidentally, going to be Reform UK's first member of Parliament in the House of Commons. He is, of course, a person of great integrity, no nonsense, and is the member of parliament in the County of Nottinghamshire for Ashfield. Please welcome Mr. Lee Anderson . The party starts to attract not just Conservative MPs, but former donors too. And then, on the 22nd of May 2024 now is the moment for Britain to choose its future. To decide whether we want to build on the progress we have made or risk going back to square one with no plan and no search . Standing behind Electorn in Downing Street, a rain-soaked rishi sun ak announces a snap general election The combination of an unpopular Conservative Party and a disaffected British public presents Nigel Farage with an opportunity too good to miss. I'm coming back as leader of Reform UK, but not just for this election campaign. I'm coming back for the next five years . And a 30-year dream finally comes true for the man who said he was done with standing in elections. I therefore do hereby declare that Nigel Paul Farage is duly elected as the Member of Parliament for the Clacton constituency. Reform wins five seats. Labour wins a big majority. And the Conservatives suffer their worst electoral defeat in parliamentary history. But those five seats are just the start. Over the course of the next year, there's a steady stream of conservative defections, and as the shine wears off the Labour government, reform inches ahead in the polls. For the first time in his career, people are starting to talk about Nigel Farage as a possible future prime minister . Reform's rise isn't just a tale of how Nigel Farage has disrupted a century of norms. It's also the story of how reform has done this and who helped them get there. And it's a story about a system which allows people to buy their way into British politics I've been a political journalist for 12 years. I've covered Nigel Farage in all his guises, from UKIP to the Brexit Party, and now to Reform UK. Farage is a very particular politician, and one who looks set to shake up the usual run of things. In the past year, I've been looking at his and reform's relationship to money and where they get it from. I want to know what it tells us about the man who could become the next Prime Minister, the type of government he might run, and the type of people he'll bring with him along the way. I'm Cat Nealan. From the Rest is Politics and the Observer's Slow Newscast, this is Who Funds Reform? Episode 1: The Missing Millions Reform doesn't operate like other political parties. It has a start-up mentality and shuns the establishment . That means the party's attitude to money is different too. So when journalists try to make sense of how they're funded, sometimes we're left with more questions than answers. Looking back at their first year of operating, there's one big question which stands out . But to understand why reform works the way it does, you have to go back to 201 4 . The word Brexit is still barely in use. But already the battle to secure a referendum on the issue is hotting up. Nigel Farage is leader of UKIP, and a brash multimillionaire insurance magnate from Bristol makes a big entrance to the UK political scene. This businessman Aaron Banks, whom nobody'd heard of, was giving £100,000 to UK. This is Michael Crick, the political journalist and author of One Party After Another, which chronicles Nigel Farage 's life and early political career. Until this point, Aaron Banks has been a conservative supporter and donor. His defection to UKIP is memorable. When William Hague, then Cvatonsiveer leader of the House, is asked about Aaron Banks, he dismisses him as a nobody. Which doesn't go down well. Journalists were summoned from the Conservative Conference, which was still going on , I think in Birmingham, to this manor house in uh just outside Bristol, where um at one of Aaron Banks' homes. I was among them. And we turned up and we assumed they were going to announce a new defector. Uh, but no, there there we were. We were greeted by Aaron Banks. And Aaron Banks announces that he is now donating one million pounds to UKIP . Perhaps the most Aaron Banks quickly becomes not just a donor to UKIP, but a close confidant of Nigel Farage. Banks was the only political person you could say was a w who ended up being a close friend of uh Nigel Farage. He's a very engaging character, you know, he's always got a grin on his face, uh, he's always got something to say, he's a sort of barra boy uh personality. His financial support for Brexit goes beyond the party too. He becomes an active campaigner in the Brexit referendum, running and funding the unofficial Leave campaign, Leave.eu . Working together with Nigel Farage, the campaign becomes a haze of stunts, billboards, and slogans . Although they're not part of the formal Brexit creeping The British people have spoken and the answer is we're out . But in around 2018, Aaron Banks starts to become a reput ational hazard for Nigel Farage. The problem was that there were lots of allegations about where did Aaron Banks get his money from and how rich w was he really? Well it was pointed out that Aaron Banks had had um uh ver several meetings with um uh Russian diplomats in London. He said it was a couple of boozy lunches. The Electoral Commission and the National Crime Agency launched separate investigations into Aaron Ban Banks vehemently denied that he he was funded by Russian money. Eventually, in 2019, both investigations conclude there is no evidence of any foreign interference in the loans that Aaron Banks gave to Leave.eu. But that is sometime into the future. By late 2018, Nigel Farage is approaching a crossroads. British politics is in a volatile place. Theresa May is running a minority government and struggling to clarify what the referendum result really means. around the the the term Brexit means Brexit, but it does mean Brexit. People want to ensure after two and a half years of negotiating, the Cabinet agrees a deal which immediately angers both Remainers and hardline Brexiteers. There are resignations from May's cabinet and people plotting to oust her from number 10. Nigel Farage is watching Brexit unravel, and his main backer, Aaron Banks, is causing unwanted attention. After that, I think that Farage uh deliberately distanced himself from Banks for quite a while. So if he wants to keep campaigning for Brexit, he's going to need a new party. And some new financial back ers . It's late December 2018 and Catherine Blakelock is at home. She's recently left UKIP, the party that had been her political home for ye She sits down to register a number of entities, small companies or organizations that could germinate into a political party. But it's not a party she thinks she can lead. I know my position in the world if you She's acting, if not on instruction, then at least in agreement with veterans of the Leave campaign. So I bought the Brexit Party as a name and Nigel um liked that. So very quietly, the Brexit Party is born. Well, it was always the idea that Nigel would be leader. That was agreed. Like many people we spoke to for this story, having given time and energy supporting Nigel Farage's political goals, she's since fallen out with him, and with the party as a whole. Remember, the Brexit Party simply rebrands when it becomes reform, so the rise of the former and how it got its money is inextricably linked to the latter . By 2019, Nigel Farage has been out of frontline politics for nearly three years, having quit as leader of UKIP after the 2016 referendum. But, ever the political opportunist, he suddenly announces he's back. We're going to use these elections to change things. I said many years ago that I wanted to cause an earthquake in British politics. Well now what I'm fighting for and with your support, what we will attempt to achieve is a democratic revolution in British politics. At the public launch of the Brexit Party in April, Nigel Farage unveils a raft of candidates to stand in the following month's' European elections. These were the elections the party said shouldn't be happening. But, because of the stasis in the House of Commons, Nigel Farage says he's left with no choice but to return. Say that if I ever had to come back into the political fray, next time it'd be no more Mr. Nice Guy . And I mean it. I mean it. This new Brexit party is a departure from Nigel Farage's old machine. Gone is UKIP's signature purple and gold, replaced with an icy cool blue. But this party is not just cosmetically different, it's set up as a business. A business with a mystery at the heart of it. That is just an absolutely huge figure. And for a new party, albeit with a history, it is a huge figure. This is Dr. Sam Power, one of the UK's leading experts in political finance. By the end of its first year, the Brexit party has raised millions, in fact, a lot more than you would expect for a party of its size or age. But if you wanted to know who has given them all that money, you'd struggle to find out. There's very little public information. There is just so much that we don't know. It is a fact that there are numbers here which just operate like a black hole. Um the the donation income, the other exp the other expenditure. This mystery is a useful place to start because it's also the starting point for reform , and some of the key people involved then are playing important roles now . Word is getting out that Nigel Farage has a new project. I was mad room about my frustrations in February, I think, 2019. This is Ben Habib. He's a businessman who until this point has been a supporter of and donor to the Conservative Party. And there was um RPR guy was there who knew Nigel Farage and he said you want to meet Farage ? He's setting up this new party called the Brexit Party. And I and I in those days I thought Farage was a sort of racist, xenophobic, swivel eyed lunatic. I offered to donate and I offered to help in anywhere I can. If you're setting up a party, Ben Habib is exactly the kind of person you might want to have around. He's a wealthy businessman, with experience of working in politics already. But the Brexit party isn't after his money, which is weird, because establishing a brand new party isn't cheap. So I became an MEP. I think I donated a small amount of money to the Brexit Party, a few thousand quid, but you know, not nothing substantial. Did you get the impression that they were like they weren't short of money at that point? They weren't. That's my producer, Poppy Bullard, speaking to Ben Habib . So why wouldn't a small party be on the hunt for as many donors as it could find? This is where the party's money gets interesting . How many party things like this do you think you've looked at? Um f far too many than I would care to admit on record. Um that's between me and my God, how many of these So you pretty much you're you're like a connoisseur of a party financial statement. It's certainly not something that I would find myself boasting about in the pub, but uh if you will, I am a connoisseur of party accounts. Yeah. That's Poppy Bullard again. She's speaking to Sam Power at the Observer Offices. They're looking at the Brexit party's financial statement from the end of 2019, essentially its first year of operating, and it's a peculiar document. When I was looking through this, and I know that when you look through it too, something really jumped out to both of us, and that is the amount of donations that the Brexit Party got in the first year of its running and I'm just gonna get the page up here so we can have a look at this. When I saw that it struck me as being just an in the most enormous number. Not a number that I'd necessarily seen reported out and about and a number that doesn't seem to match up particularly with necessarily all the things that we know publicly about the party. So what did you think when you saw this you know this statement? That is just an absolutely huge figure. The number they're looking at is a single number in the donations column . It's 17.2 million pounds. There isn't really much more detail than that. No information about who the money came from or what it was spent on. In terms of donations, we know that around 11 million pounds was declared to the Electoral Commission. And according to Nigel Farage, £5 million came from small donations. But that doesn't account for it all. And the number in the expenditure column is even bigger, nearly nineteen million pounds. Even accounting for the fact there were both European elections and a general election that year, Sam Power says the numbers just don't stack up. What that expenditure is is just i i is bizarre more than anything else, in that there is no good reason why the Brexit Party need to raise seventeen million pounds. There is no really good reason that I can see that they would need to spend nearly nineteen million pounds. We can see from the document that they spent one point two million pounds on staffing costs and 9.3 million pounds on campaigning. But there's another mystery figure in the spending column too. There is just so much that we don't know. It is a fact that there are numbers here which just operate like a black hole. The other expenditure. Yeah, other expenditure up at like seven million. Seven million, which is what we might expect that in a conservative return of um a a a conservative account when they are when they are accounting for thirty, forty, fifty million pounds, for example. That's seven million pounds spent on well we have no idea. And short of someone telling us, no way of finding out.aron Powell For a new party, albeit with wi with a history, it is a huge figure. So a generous reading of it is that it is a start-up cost. An ungenerous reading is that it is just an awful lot of money that which we don't really know the provenance of. We can look through the electoral commission database to see, but we don't really know why they have or and why they need that much money. And then if you move on to the accounts immediately um immediately following this, they go back to looking like a niche party again. They go back to looking like a party that the that raises they they raise one or two million pounds if that. I think And the most important thing to note about the Brexit party's accounting in twenty nineteen is that it's completely legal. The party isn't required, outside of an election period, to log what it spent all that cash on, nor is it obliged to say where it came from. No one we spoke to during the reporting of this story wanted to or could tell us what the money was spent on. Nor did reform respond to our request for clarification. But there are a few things we know about that enormous sum . We know that around 10 million pounds of it came from the man who walked Christopher Harborn . He was propelled into the headlines last year when he made the biggest single political donation in British history to reform, £9 million . He's since topped that up with a further £3 million . But the truth is, he's been part of the project from the early Brexit party days. I met Christopher Harborn in their office during those initial meetings, and um he had been a conservative donor himself. This is Ben Habib again. You know, we had a kind of shared history with the Conservative Party and we both discussed how we loathed the way the Conservative Party had ceased to be Conservative. But I had no idea how rich Christopher bourne was when I first met him. I knew he was richer than me, but I didn't realize how considerably uh how considerably um he you know he how how much more considerably rich he was than I am. Ben Habib is making an important point. To us mere mortals, the thought of giving away tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds seems enormous. For the donor class, which includes people like Ben Habib, these figures are small change. But even amongst the donor class, there are scales of wealth. And Christopher Harb or? Ben Habib claims that Harborne was responsible for donating far more during twenty nineteen than has been made public. ten million pounds donated to the Brexit party by him during that six nine month period that the Brexit party sort of functioned. But I I think the figure's bigger than that. I think it's more like fourteen. And I know Tice and Barrage were flying up and down the country in helicopters and things, you know, for the campaign during the general election, even though we stood down against the Conservatives. Even though Farage has stood us down against the Conservatives. Is, at this point, he doesn't seem to have just been donating money. The enigmatic billionaire was plugged into the party machine. One source told the observer that when they visited the Brexit party offices during the run-up to the European elections in 201 It seemed like Christopher Harborn was there full time. He had a desk, the source said, where he was working on the algorithms . Christopher Harborne is a difficult person to get to He doesn't do interviews or make statements. So to get an idea of what he wants and whether he's loyal to a cause or a particular party, you have to read between the lines, or at least down the columns of the electoral commission declarations . After this enthusiastic involvement with the Brexit Party, he doesn't appear in the Reform Party accounts again until 2025 one thing Aarborn used to say to me in twenty nineteen is that Boris is bitable, Boris Johnson is bitable. Ben Habib was suspicious of Harborn's generosity at the time. After the 2019 general election, Christopher Harborn stopped donating to the Brexit Party and gave more than £1.5 million to the Conservatives. In the months after Boris Johnson's step-down as Prime Minister, Christopher Harborne donated a million pounds to him, the man who by then had become a backbench MP . According to The Guardian, the pair dined together twice in Singapore that same month. Christopher Harborn later joined Boris Johnson on a trip to Ukraine. Christopher Harborn's lawyers told the paper he had no expectation of personal gain when he donated the money. But his proximity to power, even if it is party agnostic, is worth considering as we look to the future. Harborn wants to see Brexit done? Support the Brexit party . Want to shape the Brexit deal? Support the Conservatives as they thrash it out . Which begs the question. In the year 2026, a decade on from Brexit , what is the vision of Britain that Harborne thinks reform can deliver? And what are his other passion projects? Next time on Who Funds Reform Yeah look he's very successful you know whatever he's done he's uh created huge success. Tys is one of the few people at the very top of these various parties that Farage has led at one point or another who Farage hasn't fallen out with. Everybody seems to be just drinking from the same teapot. You know, they know you, you know them, you know what business they're in, they know what you're in. From hedge fund managers to metal magnates, we meet the men bankrolling reform . I thought that was a great episode, and I hope other people enjoyed it as much as we did. And I'm really pleased that we're beginning to do this. I mean those were some really tough interviews and we're beginning to get with our partners proper investigative journalism. And and I'm so pleased that someone's spending the time really getting to the bottom of some of these questions because you know you can talk about the rise of the far right as though it's a sort of organic thing that would just happen by itself, but actually, funding, social media, which is something we've talked about a great deal, networks and connections between these different groups. These are the engines that allow these parties to go from quite small reckonings in the polls to suddenly exploding. Well I hope you enjoyed that. That is episode one of our series done in conjunction with the obser ver on the funding of reform, something about which I've been obsessed for a long time, and hope that episode has made you think that the reasons to be obsessed about this as well. If you want to hear the rest of this series, every other episode, as they drop, just go to therest ispolitics.com and you can sign up