BREAKING: McSweeney’s think tank paid PR firm to investigate journalists Labour Together put private investigators onto journalists writing about its funding. Starmer's right-hand man knew.

🔴 BREAKING: Labour Together paid controversial PR firm £30k to investigate journalists who were digging into how its undeclared funding

Reporters from Sunday Times, Guardian and other outlets targetted

*And* Morgan McSweeney knew about it

Full story:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/exclusive-...

Why does Donald Trump want Greenland? @helenpidd.bsky.social and I have some of the answers. It's to do with the billionaire heir to a makeup fortune...

Trump-linked figures lead talks on $200m European pipeline contract Exclusive: Jesse Binnall and Joe Flynn, who campaigned to overturn 2020 election, seek to win Bosnia deal for little-known US firm

EXCLUSIVE: In Bosnia this week there have been talks about a $200m new pipeline to cut reliance on Russian gas. An American company wants the contract. Its representatives were part of Donald Trump's campaign to overturn the 2020 election.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... @theguardian.com

Why did Donald Trump Jr turn up in a tiny British enclave looking for money? Meetings in Gibraltar are the latest twist in worldwide campaign that is enriching the US president’s family

The Trump trail has taken me to Gibraltar. To answer a question: Why did the son of the most powerful man on the planet show up at a law firm in a tiny British outpost one Friday this November looking for money? @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Worth reading this story from @tomburgis.bsky.social about the questions surrounding Christopher Harborne’s £1m donation to Boris Johnson: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

All the president’s millions: how the Trumps are turning the presidency into riches From Vietnam to the Balkans, Donald Trump’s family has launched a global dealmaking blitz since his re-election

I've done a deep dive into the Trump family's global moneymaking campaign. The White House says there's no conflict of interest. But from Serbia to Vietnam to crypto it's being called "pay to play" on a vast scale. If you have info, get in touch @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Cryptocurrency backed by Farage donor is used for Russian war effort, investigators say Tether tokens found to facilitate scheme that enables sanctions evasion and launders money for the Kremlin

Heard of Tether? It's based in El Salvador and makes cryptocurrency. One use of that crypto is to help Russia's war machine, I'm told. Tether is massively profitable. And among its biggest shareholders is a donor to Nigel Farage...

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The £1m man: Why did Boris Johnson take his donor to Ukraine? Exclusive: Leaked files offer a glimpse of the ex-prime minister’s relationship with Christopher Harborne

*EXCLUSIVE* The Guardian investigations team's Boris Files have revealed the former prime minister’s money-making ventures from Caracas to Saudi Arabia. Today we ask a new question: Why did Boris Johnson take the man who gave him £1m to Ukraine? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Where Mideast Envoy Pitched Peace, His Son Pitched Investors

Watch witkoff www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/b...

What Boris did next: files reveal troubling secrets of the ex-PM’s pursuit of profit In his international dash for cash, Johnson appears to have repeatedly broken ethics rules as he tried to trade on relationships made in No 10

Really excellent summary of some of the top stories from the Boris Files, put together by @tomburgis.bsky.social with me and @harryfoxdavies.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

That’s a good point but all have consented to us running the pictures (and James Coussey has died). You can find more about the private intelligence firms in the articles.

How to contact the Guardian securely Some of the most important stories published by the Guardian have come from confidential tips. If you have something sensitive to share with us, here’s how to get in touch

The @theguardian.com is investigating this secretive surveillance industry. Its operations extend from hunting down domestic abuse victims to gigs for Russia, China and other hostile powers.

Do you have information we should know? Reach me here tomburgis.com/about or send a secure message: (8/8)

Is surveillance by private operators legal in the UK? Although laws govern state agencies, there is no equivalent for private spies who are free to follow people around

These are just a handful of the surveillance operations taking place all around us every day in secret. For state agencies, there are strict rules. For private operatives, not so much... (7/8)

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Revealed: spies for hire used ‘Big Brother’ tactics on salmon farm activists Guardian investigation sheds light on private intelligence industry that runs covert surveillance operations

This time the client was a multinational salmon-farming corporation. Its unnamed owners were led by a moneyman who made his fortune in Moscow. (6/8)

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Don Staniford surveillance picture

And another target: Don Staniford. Like Corin Smith, an activist exposing what goes on in Scottish salmon farms. (5/8)

Corin Smith surveillance picture

The spy firm - ex-Para Damian Ozenbrook's Blue Square Global - says its work is lawful and proper.

Here’s another target. Corin Smith. He documents horrific conditions at Scottish salmon farms. He believes he was with his young child when this surveillance picture was taken. (4/8)

Revealed: oligarchs spied on UK lawyers who ran Serious Fraud Office cases The Guardian has obtained surveillance images taken by hired spies whose goal is said to have been identifying sources and gaining ‘leverage’

The spies' client? Oligarchs whose business affairs were under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. As Andy Slaughter, the chair of parliament’s justice committee, puts it: “The hunter has become the hunted.” @hammersmithandy.bsky.social (3/8)

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Tom Martin surveillance picture

Here’s a picture the spies took of Tom Martin. Like Coussey, a lawyer who had run some of the Serious Fraud Office’s most sensitive financial crime cases. (2/8)

James Coussey surveillance picture

This is a story about spies. Though they are highly trained, they don’t work for an intelligence agency. They work for paying clients.

One target was James Coussey. He'd been a criminal prosecutor. Why were they after him? My new @theguardian.com investigation (1/8)

Just announced: the UK's most famous libel firm, Carter-Ruck, is being prosecuted before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for recklessly enabling a $4bn fraud

It's astonishing how reckless Carter-Ruck was - likely causing $$$ more to be lost to fraudsters

The full story:

Two activists started exposing what was going on inside Scottish salmon farms. Soon they were being followed by spies for hire.

My new investigation into the surveillance industry. @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

'Trump’s a kleptocrat’: How power became corruption | Tom Burgis YouTube video by Times Radio

Trump’s a kleptocrat: How power became corruption - lessons on state capturing, when "institutions serve the few instead of shielding the many".

Interview of @tomburgis.bsky.social on @listentotimesradio.bsky.social

Trump's ambassador to Israel seems to be making Hiroshima (and Saigon?) references in private texts to the president.

Exposing wrongdoing has always taken bravery. As threats to journalism increase, so does the need to protect sources. Secure Messaging is an important new tool that makes it easier to share confidential information with journalists at the Guardian.

www.theguardian.com/membership/2...

There’s a huge risk here that’s been ignored. It’s the resource curse. Economies dominated by oil and mining tend to be massively corrupt - because those industries concentrate power in the hands of those who control access to the resources. The fate Ukraine has been fighting to escape.

Graphika In The News: The Guardian examines Chinese targeting of Hong Kong exiles A new report from The Guardian citing Graphika found that Hong Kong exiles in the United Kingdom are being targeted online as part of a larger coordinated effort to attack China's opponents.

Hong Kong exiles in the UK are being targeted online as part of a larger coordinated effort to attack China's opponents.
Graphika analysts reviewed social media posts for a new investigation by @theguardian.com's @tomburgis.bsky.social and @maevemcclenaghan.bsky.social: graphika.com/posts/graphi...

‘Numerous signs of torture’: a Ukrainian journalist’s detention and death in Russian prison The Guardian, working with media partners, has tracked down first-hand accounts to reconstruct Viktoriia Roshchyna’s final months

The Viktoriia project launches today- our first story. Our deep dive into Russian detention centres, with @shaunwalker7.bsky.social and @forbidden-stories.bsky.social consortium to follow tomorrow.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Revealed: online campaign urged far right to attack China’s opponents in UK Social media incitement following last summer’s riots appears to be new tactic against Hong Kong exiles

In the U.K. @tomburgis.bsky.social & Maeve McClenaghan revealed how an online campaign urged far right to attack China’s opponents in UK www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Revealed: online campaign urged far right to attack China’s opponents in UK Social media incitement following last summer’s riots appears to be new tactic against Hong Kong exiles

What's it like to be hunted? Our latest investigation reveals the worldwide reach of China's authoritarian rulers. #ChinaTargets @icij.org @hopenothate.org.uk

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Revealed: Chinese researchers can access half a million UK GP records Medical information will be available from UK Biobank, despite western intelligence agencies’ security fears

SCOOP: Researchers from China are to be allowed access to half a million UK GP records despite western intelligence agencies’ fears about the authoritarian regime amassing health data. My latest @theguardian.com investigation.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...