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Banks hires spies to target journalist, Reform UK denies knowledge

8/11/2026

35 8 Full Breakdown

Summary

Story summary

Arron Banks, a donor to Reform UK, hired private investigators to spy on Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund.
He tasked his former firm Precision Risk and Intelligence with examining the Insight editor.
Banks replied, “When you live by the sword, you die by the sword.”
NMA chief executive Theo Bamber called the surveillance an attack on democracy.
Reform UK denied any knowledge of the surveillance.

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Story summary

Arron Banks, a donor to Reform UK, hired private investigators to spy on Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund.
He tasked his former firm Precision Risk and Intelligence with examining the Insight editor.
Banks replied, “When you live by the sword, you die by the sword.”
NMA chief executive Theo Bamber called the surveillance an attack on democracy.
Reform UK denied any knowledge of the surveillance.