Thread by @mikeysmith

Delighted to return from a week's holiday to find everyone's got into sleaze, cronies and second jobs.

But like when everyone discovered Game of Thrones during season 3, there's lots to catch up on.

Here's a recap of some of the stories I've worked on over the last 18 months.

Let's start with donors - specifically this run of stories about a Russia-linked energy firm which donates a LOT to the Tories.

Tory Energy Secretary dined with donors behind £1.2bn pipeline at fundraiser
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

More:

Tory who raised energy pipeline in Commons shared fundraiser table with donors behind it
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Second Tory minister recuses herself from power pipeline decision over donations
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Next, since it's back in the news today - here's the story I broke in August about Dominic Raab's ex-Russian bank chief donor, who has since caused problems for Prince Charles:
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

And the follow ups:
Dominic Raab's ex-Russian banker donor runs charity with boss of 'Kremlin front group'
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Under-fire Dominic Raab to hire campaigns assistant as he battles to save his seat
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

More on Tory donors getting access to the PM and top ministers:

Tory donors spent half a million on £10k tickets for Zoom call with Boris Johnson
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…
Tories take £280k from Russia-linked donors in year since report called for crackdown
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Tory law change would let donors bankroll party from tax havens for life
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Quarter of Boris Johnson's Cabinet took Russia-linked cash as Tories head to Conference
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Donors offered cosy dinner with ministers for £4,000 a table at Tory Conference
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Next up, contracts handed out to friends (and employers) of people in power:

Dominic Cummings ally's firm given £1m of taxpayer cash
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Ofqual gave £49,000 contract to Dominic Cummings ally's firm ahead of A-levels fiasco
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Here's where the Owen Paterson/Randox links started to become interesting:

Tory-linked firm behind 'contaminated' Covid-19 tests keeps government contract
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

More on second jobs:

Tory MP Ben Bradley takes second full-time job as local council leader
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Tory MP to be paid £137,000 by National Lottery firm Camelot for 'media training'
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

And, of course, Geoffrey Cox:
Top Tory pockets £80k outside earnings just days before £20 Universal Credit cut
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Here's some stories about Tories spending taxpayers' cash to make themselves look good:

Ex-Tory intern spent £65,000 on anti-Corbyn attack ads and won't say who funded them
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

No10 defends 8-strong taxpayer-funded film crew behind lavish promo video
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Policing minister claimed up to £800 a month on expenses to pay for his podcast
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Tory MPs spend £160k of taxpayers' cash getting Facebook videos made by same firm
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Our analysis of 'pork barrel' targeting of 'Levelling Up' cash

Rishi Sunak hands 90% of £1bn new Towns Fund cash in Budget to Tory seats
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

High-profile Tory target seat handed £24m in Towns Fund cash 'in political move'
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Tories hand 83% of £610m boost to towns with only Conservative MPs
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

More on Lobbyists having privileged access:

Dozens of lobbyists 'free to roam' Parliament wearing passes dished out by Lords
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Tory MP handed paid roles on Parliamentary groups to lobbyist amid football team row
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

And, of course, Covid contracts:

Tory donor's role in £100m PPE contract scrubbed from documents following 'admin error'
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Civil servants were 'drowning' in requests for 'VIPs' to jump queue for Covid contracts
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

UK's biggest PPE suppliers 'ignored' by Government while 'VIPs' got contracts, MPs told
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Under-fire Health Minister's 27 Covid meetings went undeclared for more than a year
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Matt Hancock attended more 'missing' meetings worth millions to Covid contract firms
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Government won't publish records of meetings between Dido Harding and Covid firms
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Turning to MPs' behaviour, here's the story on Daniel Kawczynski that has resurfaced this week:

Tory MP ordered to make public apology over 'grossly unprofessional' bullying
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

And my story from August, revealing he faced a second probe: mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

And no list of sleaze stories would be complete without some freebies and jollies:

Tory MPs take five times more VIP freebies than any other party in £200k bonanza
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Married Tories Esther McVey and Philip Davies take £18k of VIP tickets in two months
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

And finally, this handy roundup:

MP second job rich list - Tories raking in up to £1.6m each ON TOP of salary
mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Final note: If you want to support this kind of reporting, click on it, share it with your friends, and maybe even #buyapaper - we can only keep doing it if people keep reading it.