This is nuts. Even for Banks. Eldon Insurance & LeaveEU brought this appeal against the Information Commissioner. Then didn’t show up.
Also: curious dates. My libel trial ended Jan 21. 5 days later Banks’s solicitors @kingsleynapley ‘came off record’
Mr Jacobus Coetzee, the named director of LeaveEU who failed to show up to court, is an old associate of Arron Banks. On this exciting page of ‘Bad Boys of Brexit’ featuring all the greats inc Andrew Neil & the Russian ambassador, he describes him as a ‘South African spook’.
A refresher: this was the appeal Arron Banks previously lost. In the judgement, the judge noted - that the man suing me for saying he had lied - was ‘untruthful’ & had been ‘bullying’ toward the Information Commissioner
During parliamentary debate brought by @liambyrnemp & @DavidDavisMP during my trial, it was revealed MI5 had contacted the Information Commissioner - Liz Denham - to tell her it had evidence Banks’s private intelligence firm was illegally surveilling her
And who’s a director of Arron Banks’s private intelligence firm, Precision Risks & Intelligence? Why it’s only Mr Jacobus Coetzee. The ex-South African spook who seems to have had a change of mind about turning up to the High Court
And here’s the kicker. Who else was a director of Precision Risks & Intelligence? One Frank Mermoud. A Ukrainian gas specialist all over the Senate Intelligence Report. Enjoy this extract featuring Paul Manafort & a Russian spy, Konstantin Kliminik, discussing ‘the Frank plan’
Important to remember in interests of fairness & balance, that I’m a ‘crazy conspiracist’ who has caused ‘serious harm’ to Mr Banks’s reputation
Note: we still don’t know results of data audit, ICO was undertaking of Eldon & LeaveEU. Also Jacobus Coetzee, the SA spook - who had what to do with Brexit? - really got left holding the baby. He ended up as last remaining director when Banks resigned in Aug last year.
Final postscript. A bit more detail from the doc. In the days after my trial ended, @kingsleynapley ‘sought to come off the record as a matter of urgency in the days leading up to the hearing’. No clues as to why…🤷♀️
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NEW: I'm seeking permission to appeal in the Supreme Court. There's no meaningful free expression in this country if after proving your speech is lawful, you're hit with £££ costs: a devastating ruling that will chill public interest journalism
by @_EmmaGH theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/m…
This was filed today in the Court of Appeal. If the Supreme Court rejects it, we believe there’s a strong case to take it to the European Court of Human Rights.
Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights puts an obligation on states to ensure freedom of expression. According to the ruling in this case, it's very far from free: even if you can prove your speech is lawful, it'll still cost you hundreds of thousands of pounds...
It's been a long time but v happy to be back in @ObserverUK today with 2 pieces, both close to my heart. And to launch a new project with @allthecitizens.
1/ An astonishing new claim that MI5 refused to investigate Russian spy's infiltration of Tory party theguardian.com/politics/2023/…
2/ Delighted to profile the fierce & brilliant @pevchikh for @ObsNewReview. If you've seen the Navalny doc, she's the woman sitting by Navalny's side as he calls one of his FSB poisoners & gets him to confess to Novichoking his underpants. theguardian.com/world/2023/jan…
3/ Finally, the story of how the Kremlin captured Britain. And how the UK government covered it up. If you've wondered why no British broadcaster has told the real story behind the Russia Report, please watch this & consider contributing.
My jaw hit the floor when I discovered Boris Johnson left an emergency NATO meeting after the Kremlin’s chemical warfare attack on Britain & flew to an off-the-books meeting with an ex-KGB spy.
In July 2019, Johnson had just been made PM. And @nickhopkinsnews published 2 extraordinary stories about Foreign Secretary Johnson flying from a NATO meeting to a party in Italy at the height of the Skripal crisis.
The party was at Evgeny Lebedev’s villa. The owner of Independent & Evening Standard.
Hopkins’s first story suggested he’d given his security detail the slip to fly to Italy. Then a Guardian reader supplied photos of him leaving: hungover & dishevelled 3/
Thank you to the judge, my stellar legal team & the 29,000 people who contributed to my legal defence fund. I literally couldn’t have done it without you 🙏🙏🙏
I haven't read the judgment yet but what I can say that the last 3 years have been extraordinarily difficult. Fighting this has been a crushing, debilitating, all-consuming experience that I sincerely hope no other journalist ever has to go through. 2/ judiciary.uk/judgments/bank…
The fact that his case was brought clearly shows how our libel laws favour the rich & powerful. I was only able to defend myself because of the incredibly generous support of the public. But this judgment is a huge victory for public interest journalism.
3/