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.

The Court of Appeal has ruled.

I've won on 2 of 3 important grounds of principle.

Most importantly, the landmark public interest ruling is intact. The judge's findings of fact are intact. The original judgment holds.

The court found in favour of Banks on a single point
1/

https://twitter.com/JudiciaryUK/status/1630573589282934784

It has ruled that after the NCA concluded its investigation in April 2020, the continued publication of the TED talk caused him serious harm

Only guess what? That 'continued publication' has nothing to do with me! I'm not the publisher. And the court even *acknowledges* this.
2/

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…

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.

Yours should too.

This is how it happened.
1/

theguardian.com/politics/2022/… 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.

2/
theguardian.com/politics/2019/…

It did almost crush me.

The only reason it didn't is because of my amazing lawyers & the generosity of 28,887 people.

But here's what you don't know. The judgment is *extraordinary*. 117 pages of FACTS.

About Russia, Brexit & the man who funded it.
1/
theguardian.com/uk-news/commen… I was blown away when I read it.

To judge the case on public interest, Mrs Justice Steyn first had to judge if Arron Banks had - as I alleged - lied.

To do so, she examined his relationship with the Russian govt in forensic detail.

We now have this all on public record.
2/

It hasn’t sunk in yet but…SOME NEWS.

I am so profoundly grateful & relieved.

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 🙏🙏🙏

theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/j… 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…

You have not been sued for libel.

I have.

There are many things I have wanted to say in the last 6 weeks of #DeppvHeard

But I haven't.

Because whatever I say will be used to attack not just me but others too.

Because that's how libel works. That's the whole point of it.
1/ You have not been sued for libel.

So you'll not understand how it's not just designed to silence you. Although it does. But also to destroy you. Which it does too.

It's not a pissy business dispute. It's a full-frontal multi-million quid existential assault. On who you are.
2/

One month before Russia invaded Ukraine, I stood trial at the High Court. And now I wait, in purgatory, to be judged.

But I believe this trial and the silence around it - & all the Kremlin's men - has revealed something profoundly rotten at the heart of the British state.
1/ The case rests on a single question: was it in the public interest for me, a journalist, to speak about a years-long investigation into Russian interference?

That's what the High Court heard, in a £2m trial against a single journalist, on eve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
2/

NEW: It is absolutely NUTS given what’s happening but Johnson is STILL refusing to investigate Russian interference. We at @allthecitizens + 5 MPs/peers believe this is a fundamental breach of our human rights. So it’s going Strasbourg.👊👊👊
theguardian.com/law/2022/mar/2… Kudos to @BenPBradshaw @CarolineLucas @LordStras @AlynSmith & @PJWheatcroft. A cross party group fighting this for 2 years already. See this new film for a full explainer. The #RussiaReport found a gaping hole at heart of our national security. And European court only option left

https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1508781017158635525

Imagine a weird small island on outlying fringes of the continental landmass. Its ruling party has been infiltrated by Russian interests.

It recently changed its constitution after populists won a poll that election officials say was tainted & corrupt.

And this man paid for it As fighting across Europe intensifies, the riverside capital remains calm.

State-run media refuses to confirm or deny that the supreme leader covertly met Kremlin officials at a drug-laced ‘bonga bonga’ party.

However, cracks are now starting to emerge in pro govt news outlets

Very proud to have been part of this tonight. @frontlineclub projected the Ukrainian flag onto the Russian embassy in London tonight to support the work of independent journalists reporting from Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

https://twitter.com/bylinetv/status/1505636025800040457

All journalists reporting from Ukraine are doing vital work. Without them, Putin’s lies will win. But freelance journalists do this work without the support of a news organisation. And whole purpose of @frontlineclub is to try & keep them safe.

gofundme.com/f/frontline-uk…

This is so bizarre. This week’s @bbc Media Show asks ‘Why are Russian oligarchs only now in the spotlight?’

& ‘Why is it only now that the mainstream press has put the oligarchs in the spotlight?’

WHAT?!? We at @guardian & @ObserverUK did. The problem is @bbc NEVER followed up This, I believe, is what is known as ‘gaslighting’.

@lukeharding1968 & @skirchy & @JulietteGarside & @nickhopkinsnews & @TownsendMark & I & many more have been filing these stories over years. The problem has not been ‘the press’, it’s been the national broadcaster

Saturday, March 19, 2022. MasterInvestor conference, London.

Jim Mellon, LeaveEU donor, & ex-business partner of Arron Banks delivers his view on financial outlook post Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.” I’ve just deleted a thread on Jim Mellon because I want to first explain the difficulties we face reporting on public interest subjects in the UK.

Jim Mellon is a case in point.

In 2018, Mr Mellon sent legal letters to @ObserverUK, @nytimes, @thesundaytimes @nymag & me

Britain has a Russia problem. And his name is Nigel Farage.

Today, Ofcom finally banned RT. 8 long years after Russia illegally invaded Crimea.

But this is their man. RT - whose editor described it as a "weapon" of the Russian state - is what made Farage into who is today.
1/ RT is not just a TV channel. It's at centre of a whole ecosystem of Kremlin propaganda. Clips uploaded to YouTube were laced between mesmerising videos of tsunamis & tornadoes.

It was clickbait wizardry.

As ex-YouTuber @gchaslot told me no-one milked YouTube's algo like RT.
2/

I have hugely mixed feelings this morning. It is tremendous news that the UK govt is going to crack down on SLAPP lawsuits.

I also feel angry & sad & helpless that I was put through this ordeal. Am still going through this ordeal.

news.sky.com/story/crackdow… It is a huge milestone for the people who have done so much to campaign for this, organisations such as @RSF_en & @IndexCensorship & people like @skcoughtrie & @rebecca_vincent.

And it will hopefully bring to an end this era of legalised harassment

theguardian.com/law/2022/mar/1…

I don’t think the people who have cheerleaded this man, who have repeated his talking points & helped his political objectives should have a way back from this.

He’s just called for a ‘self-purification’ of Russia. We know where we’ve heard that before.

Maybe there’s a way back from it. But it’s not this. Farage voted in favour of Kremlin’s foreign policy for years. This claim about ‘Russia hoax’ is actually obscene.

It’s Putin’s line. Delivered with less than zero evidence. From a man who actually appears in Mueller Report

Here’s what most people don’t know. Arron Banks didn’t just sue me for defamation. He sued the Electoral Commission. It’s a taxpayer-funded body, a libel trial costs circa £2m & it settled. Part of that settlement involved deleting info about the NCA referral from the internet

https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1503790750718476291

What’s ironic is that if Banks had sued @guardian it would have settled too. Everyone settles. Harper Collins fought but settled. Only reason I didn’t is because 30,000 people - 30,000! - crowdfunded me. And when Banks conflicted out my lawyer, I was too broken to deal with it

This is 3-part podcast @peterjukes & I made in 2018 ti#o explain how FBI’s investigation into Russia’s attack on US clearly involved UK too.

So weird listening now. It was 4 YEARS ago. I was exhausted then. And we still haven’t had SINGLE investigation

We only did 3 eps because it was all such an uphill struggle. But if we’re finally going to reckon with this, it’s not enough to sanction a few Russians. We have to take a long hard look at the problem within our own borders. And that means Farage.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mee…

Oh my god. @RhonddaBryant has just called for Arron Banks to be sanctioned! Quotes Isabel Oakeshott calling him "an agent of influence for the Russian state".

https://twitter.com/AdamJSchwarz/status/1503777104055484427

[exploding head emoji]

Powerful evidence from @CatherineBelton right now on how she was forced to remove lines about Roman Abramovich from her book & @tomburgis on the intimidation techniques used against investigative journalists.

https://twitter.com/CommonsForeign/status/1503746727236542467

Excellent from @liambyrne bringing up your insane legal case @ScottMStedman

Now that everyone's paying attention, can we please revisit Conservatives' 2013 summer fundraiser? Special guests include Putin's Judo partner & @guardian published helpful seating plan to check off against that sanctions list.

This was Johnson's table:
theguardian.com/politics/ng-in… Any sign of Andrei Borodin on that list? He owns a massive pile in Johnson's former Henley constituency. So interesting who manages to get "political asylum" in the UK & who doesn't.