Arron Banks ‘hired private detective’ to look into journalist who investigated Reform UK

Asked whether he targeted reporter who investigated party finances, Brexit campaigner says: ‘When you live by the sword, you die by the sword’ The prominent Reform UK member and Brexit campaigner Arron Banks is said to have set private investigators on a Sunday Times journalist after he broke a series of stories about Nigel Farage. Banks is alleged to have paid for the services of investigators to examine Gabriel Pogrund, editor of the paper’s Insight investigations team. The detail emerged in the New Statesman on Friday. When approached for comment, Banks did not appear to deny it. He is said to have instructed Precision Risk and Intelligence, a firm he once owned, to examine Pogrund. The Sunday Times and the Guardian have broken a series of stories in recent months revealing how cash has poured into Reform and Farage personally from donors and wealthy benefactors. Pogrund is believed to have been targeted after a story in the Sunday Times last month revealed that Farage has received financial support from the convicted criminal George Cottrell, known as “Posh George”. In response to the New Statesman report, Banks said: “We believe the Sunday Times used hacked informa