British businessman and Reform UK backer Arron Banks is facing intense political pressure to disclose the full extent of alleged surveillance targeting journalists. The News Media Association condemned the tactic as a direct threat to democracy after Banks admitted to hiring private investigators to monitor a Sunday Times investigative editor.
The controversy erupted after reports surfaced detailing how Banks instructed a private intelligence firm he previously owned to examine Gabriel Pogrund, the editor of the Sunday Times Insight investigations team.
The Revelation and the Response From Media Advocacy Groups
The story broke when investigative reporting revealed that Banks turned to Precision Risk and Intelligence—a company formerly in his possession—to target Pogrund. The Guardian and the Sunday Times have spent recent months publishing a series of detailed investigations examining how money has flowed to Reform UK and party leader Nigel Farage personally from affluent donors and benefactors.
Theo Bamber, the chief executive of the News Media Association, condemned the operation in uncompromising terms, warning that aggressive interference with investigative reporting threatens the foundations of open governance.
“Using private investigators to try to deter journalists from making legitimate inquiries about public figures is an attack on our democracy. Sadly, intimidation and abuse of local and national journalists is increasingly used as a weapon to limit scrutiny and deflect attention away from matters of public interest. This must not become normalised.”
Theo Bamber, Chief Executive of the News Media Association
Bamber also urged government ministers to take decisive action. He stated that Ministers must wake up to this threat to our democracy and do much more to protect the independent journalism which underpins our democratic way of life.
