Carole Cadwalladr

NEW: Before cryptobillionaire Christopher Harborne gave £5m to @nigel_farage, he gave £1m to Boris Johnson. For what??

Today @thenerve.news news reveals new evidence that tracks Harborne's investments in defence firm QinetiQ...to key defence announcements from Boris Johnson.
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NEW: The story behind a silencing.

Facebook whistleblower Sarah Wynn Williams is trapped in a parallel private justice system. I've written about what it tells us about the "post-state" future, a cryptolibertarian dream that's close than we realise.

open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

Silenced

Facebook's silencing of a whistleblower shines a light on a private justice system and a "post-state" future where tech bros write the rules. Or as we call them, "laws"

NEW: Why would Nigel Farage & George Cottrell share the same lawyer?

In @thenerve_news we revealed that the Reform donor under investigation by the NCA & the Reform leader under investigation by Parliamentary Standards share the same Carter Ruck lawyers.

Why?
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Here’s a funny thing.

I’ve just found a tweet from Jan 2020 asking what quid pro quo was for these peerages?

In Part 2 of our series #HarborneReceipts Rupert Lowe alleges Tories offered them to Farage as part of a deal.

Farage said he turned the deal down.

But did he?

Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

NEW: Why did Nigel Farage throw the 2019 ‘Brexit’ election for Boris Johnson? What does it have to do with Harborne’s £5m gift? And why is it tearing apart Britain’s far-right parties? A @thenerve.news investigation by me & @luciaoc.bsky.social (Link below) 1/ #TheHarborneReceipts

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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

If you've read about George Cottrell this morning...well he's part of this & coming soon.

The rest of the media is *finally* onto Farage. But I've been at this for an entire decade & until now haven't had a team. Please sign up to @thenerve.news & support if you can 🙏
www.thenerve.news/membership

membership | The Nerve

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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

All lawyers have to undertake a ‘conflict check’ before taking on a new client.

For Nigel Farage & George Cottrell to be sharing the same lawyers, it means the convicted money launderer & Reform leader’s interests are aligned.

In what way? And who’s paying?
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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

This is part 5 of @thenerve_news's series, #HarborneReceipts. We've tracked Harborne's £££ &...

* Farage & Johnson's crypto policies.

* The Brexit "deal" that saw Farage stand down his candidates ahead of critical general election.

* Johnson's undeclared trip to Kyiv.
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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

Christopher Harborne's £5m gift to Farage is now the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.

But our latest story in #HarborneReceipts raises incredibly serious qs including...did Boris Johnson give Harborne classified defence info he then profited from?
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www.thenerve.news/p/boris-john...

Chequers gatherings, Johnson's diary and a new jet fighter... how billionaire Christopher Harborne became a big player in defence

Soon after the Ukraine war broke out, the investor emerged as a highly favoured backer of the Tory government – and then a major shareholder in privatised defence lab QinetiQ at a transformative momen...

Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

More here:

www.thenerve.news/p/nigel-fara...

Farage, the money launderer and me: a decade of denial

The Reform leader’s relationship with the UK media has enabled him to operate with impunity for years. This past fortnight, that impunity finally appeared to be coming to an end. Carole Cadwalladr, wh...

Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

QinetiQ's share price jumped.

In the hours, Harborne spent alone with Boris Johnson, did he mention the new defence programme to him?

We don't know. It's why Susan Hawley of @spotlightcorruption.org says UK lobbying laws must change.
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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

In early 2022, Harborne switched his donations to the Tories giving first £500k then on May 6, another £500k.

It wasn't his only transaction that day. UK defence firm, QinetiQ 3% issued a notice that he now owned 3%.

The next day, he spent hours with Johnson at Chequers.
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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

There's exact parallels to Mandelson scandal, Susan Hawley of @spotlightcorruption.org told @thenerve.news.

She also says: "If there is compelling evidence that insider information has been shared in this case, it is essential that there is a robust criminal investigation.”
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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

On July 18, 2022, Boris Johnson took to the stage of the Farnborough Airshow and announced Tempest, a next gen fighter jet. A huge deal - & £££ - for the UK defence industry...including QinetiQ although the full scale of their involvement would only come to light later.
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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

That was only the beginning of the spree. Over next 2 months, Harborne bought a further 7% in QinetiQ becoming largest single shareholder.

Defence stocks "corrected" & prices dipped but then Harborne caught a break. Thanks to..Boris Johnson.
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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

By the time of Farnborough Airshow, Harborne had become the single biggest individual investor in QinetiQ and controller of the voting rights.

He'd also moved the entire holding to Delaware, a US jurisdiction that HMRC classifies as "opaque", ie beyond its reach or scrutiny
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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

It doesn't end there. Harborne got another Chequers invite. It was Aug 22 after Johnson had resigned but before he'd stepped down.

Johnson had to step away to take a call with the 'Quad' - Biden, Macron & Scholz - to discuss Ukraine.

Only one guest remained: Harborne.
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Reply to @carolecadwalla.bsky.social

Understand about grumpiness!

Reply

I don’t work for @doubledown.news so didn’t use anything but I’m sure if you write to them, they’ll respond

Reply

Write to me firstname.lastname &
@nerve.news & I’ll forward..