Alex Beatty

👇 Great reporting from @catneilan.bsky.social and @theobserveruk.bsky.social. We'll be covering the sentencing of Nathan Gill next month after he pleaded guilty to 8️⃣ Russia-linked #bribery charges in a case that has huge implications for addressing #foreigninterference in UK politics.

⚖️ Last week saw a dramatic twist in the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s #SLAPPs case against Hamlins solicitor Christopher Hutchings for allegedly making an improper legal threat against a journalist who wrote about a high-profile corruption scandal involving the theft of billions of dollars. 1/5

So, another week when we'll continue to ignore the increasingly obvious issue of political radicalisation via social media? And indeed the tied issue of the large tech companies who promote this, and the tech bros who see this as some sort of move to a utopian paradise governed by them?

1 Nurse: It’s become a real problem in this area 2 Nurse: We’ve seen the whole community lost to addiction 3 Show a building sign posted: Westminster ‘X’ Addiction Clinic With various Westminster people or looking at their phones outside it Nurse: Ministers, Spads, Researchers… 4 Nurse: Most mornings we’ll get a call about someone acting strangely [Nurse on phone taking a call] Ok - we’ll be right over 5 Nurse: We just have a gentle chat [Nurses approach a minister –Robert Jenrick? - standing in the Palace of Westminster Minister: I understand your concerns… 6 Nurse: Are you OK love? Minister: Yes I’m just hearing legitimate concerns from real voters 7 Nurse: That’s a robot, a Nazi and a poorly-disguised Russian [Show that the people he is talking to are precisely these characters] Nurse 2: Give us your phone, love 8 Nurse: At the clinic we put them in a Grass-Touching Pod, with a real voter to talk to [We see them back at the clinic, holding the minister's head and pushing him into a glass isolation booth with a grass floor. And it is a baffled looking woman, on a chair, ready to talk to him.] 9 Minister: YOU MUST BE WORRIED ABOUT THE COMING CIVIL WAR [woman looks baffled] 10 woman: I just want a bus service Minister: LOOK AT MY FLAG [produces a St George's flag] [ends]

👇 This is a tremendous bit of work by my @spotlightcorruption.org colleagues @megandavis-lawthor.bsky.social and Helen Taylor

Spotlight on Corruption's latest newsletter is out! This edition covers crypto donations to political parties, the launch of the new Ethics and Integrity Commission and some exciting public events coming up in the next few weeks.

📨 Our newsletter went out to subscribers yesterday. It features stories on crypto donations to political parties, the launch of @ethicsandintegrity.bsky.social and news of some great public events coming up!
✍️ Sign up at our website to receive future issues: www.spotlightcorruption.org/newsletter/

👏 Brilliant to see Crossbench Peer Lord Cromwell set out the case in today's debate on the Crime and Policing Bill for securing desperately needed funding for the fight against #EconomicCrime by reinvesting seized assets and fines back into enforcement agencies.

Crypto donations: how to tackle the new dark money threat - Spotlight on Corruption The first-ever crypto donation to a UK political party has now been made, according to recent media reports. We don’t yet know the source or value of the

💥The first crypto donation to a UK political party has been made – but what should happen next?
@timpicton.bsky.social sets out what guidance the @electoralcommission.org.uk could issue right now, and takes a look at how the forthcoming #ElectionsBill could deal with potential future risks.

Interesting piece. But it's not just about channels, it's about a larger crisis in government comms - and in society - which is not a new thing and goes back perhaps 15 years. Put simply, the Whitehall comms machine has lost the ability to win arguments.

Nathan Gill bribery case shows real risks of foreign interference - Spotlight on Corruption Today’s guilty plea in the trial of Nathan Gill, Reform UK’s former leader in Wales, demonstrates the real risks of foreign interference and corruption in our

🎙️Our executive director @suehawley.bsky.social will be talking to @stephensackur.bsky.social on @listentotimesradio.bsky.social at 1.30pm today about the case of Nathan Gill, Reform UK's former leader in Wales, who pleaded guilty to #bribery charges last month.
For more on the case, see our article👇

Go get your @privateeyenews.bsky.social folks and buckle up for another incredible report by @rbrooks45.bsky.social on the Teeside development - a tale of insane #cronyism and #profiteering at taxpayer expense.

@csc-barrington.bsky.social @ethicsandintegrity.bsky.social

🚪🔚 Party Conferences Season 2025 comes to a close.

🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️ We've been busy!

🌎 From Bournemouth to Aberdeen, Manchester to Liverpool, we discussed the urgent need to fight corruption, tackle dirty, and restore trust in our politics.

❤️ Thanks to all of you who joined us -- see you next year!

Spotlight Associate Justin Moore in a t-shirt emblazoned with the Spotlight on Corruption logo in which he ran a half marathon through the Chiltern Hills.

🏃 Spotlight Associate and running aficionado @justinlmoore.bsky.social has completed another long run in Spotlight's colours! He completed a half marathon trail run through the scenic Chiltern Hills this weekend. Great job raising awareness about our work fighting corruption, Justin!

New ethics watchdog a good start but serious gaps remain - Spotlight on Corruption Spotlight welcomes today’s official launch of the new Ethics and Integrity Commission but warns that there are serious gaps which means the body will face

Good to see @ethicsandintegrity.bsky.social officially begin its important work today although serious gaps remain. The EIC will be crucial if the UK is to make progress in driving up standards in public life and reversing the public’s scathing opinion of our politics, which is at record lows. A 🧵:

Two people convicted following world's largest crypto seizure Zhimin Qian and Hok Seng Ling plead guilty in one of the largest money laundering cases in UK history

₿ Big win for the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service this week as Chinese ‘BitQueen’ Yadi Zhang and her fixer Hok Seng Ling pleaded guilty to money laundering. Recovering the £5.5 billion worth of Bitcoin will be a key test of the UK's toolkit to tackle criminal crypto assets:

All to avoid the shame of acknowledging the horrible, psychologically troubling truth. Labour has for a long time been a party of the PMC, by the PMC, for the PMC. It’s just, here’s the thing about the PMC. They are the electoral majority. And they are how Labour won, will win, and can only win. n/n

Transparency International UK x Spotlight on Corruption x More In Common: Who Pays, Who Decides? Big Money in British Politics — UK Anti-Corruption Coalition Join us to discuss the corrupting influence of money from home and abroad on our democracy. Drawing on new public opinion insights, this panel will discuss what must be done to stop the rise of mega d...

🔥 EVENT: "Who Pays, Who Decides? Big Money in British Politics"
Our executive director @suehawley.bsky.social joins Baroness Hodge, @liambyrnemp.bsky.social, @duncanhames.bsky.social, &
@edhodgsoned.bsky.social on the panel for this crucial discussion at 4.30pm today.
Check out the details below 👇

Democracy in danger: why the government must restore the Electoral Commission’s full independence - Spotlight on Corruption Democracy in danger: A fully independent Electoral Commission is critical to ensuring the integrity of UK elections, and maintaining public confidence.

⚠️ Our Democracy in Danger report warns that ministers’ power over the @electoralcommission.org.uk “could easily be abused to undermine our democracy.” The previous govt introduced measures to allow them to set the Commission’s strategy and policy, curtailing the regulator's independence.

This is *really* important.

Our elections regulator isn’t independent. Reform’s Arron Banks has said the Electoral Commission should be abolished

The architecture of British democracy is really weak and easily ripped out. It needs to be protected now

UK government urged to restore Electoral Commission’s independence to protect democracy Oversight of watchdog could be abused by a future authoritarian government, report warns

💥 The independence of @electoralcommission.org.uk must be fully restored to safeguard the UK’s electoral integrity from a future authoritarian government, our new report warns. Covered exclusively by Rowena Mason in today’s @theguardian.com 👇

Later on Monday we've got a fantastic panel to be looking at the role of big money in UK politics with @transparencyuk.bsky.social and @spotlightcorruption.org

*rummages around in archive*

"yep, knew it was here somewhere"

I hadn’t realised quite how contemptible the offences were.

Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges Gill admits to eight charges while an elected member of the European parliament

🚨 BREAKING: The former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, has pleaded guilty to #bribery, admitting he received corrupt payments as a Brexit Party MEP in exchange for making statements in the European Parliament to promote Russia’s interests in #Ukraine.

The UK has a real problem with enforcing our most basic laws and regulations. Police just don’t seem to care so you get situations where violations can be an open secret for years and get tackled only when it makes the papers and the police get embarrassed.

📺 Fantastic to see @spotlightcorruption.org’s research included in the brilliant ITV documentary ‘The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money’, which was screened on Sunday night. Here’s @suehawley.bsky.social explaining how much of the PPE sourced from the VIP Lane turned out to be unusable.

More than anything, the MAGA phenomenon is about letting an incredibly stupid man have near-absolute power.

The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money review – a devastating picture of the biggest spending scandal ever This rigorous look at the Tories’ ‘VIP lane’ for PPE suppliers during Covid raises questions about the motivations of those involved – ones that are almost too disgusting to contemplate

Small boats: TV coverage - day after day after day after day....

PPE scandal: TV coverage - let's stick this powerful, enraging documentary on at quarter past ten on a Sunday night.

‘Bitcoin is the free speech of money’: fears grow over fa... Hard-to trace digital transactions could lead to hostile states or criminal organisations secretly making political donations and threatening democracy

Labour MPs are pushing ministers to delay the long-anticipated Elections Bill to include a ban on crypto being used for political donations

observer.co.uk/news/politic...

I wish we were still in his world. It's a disaster for the centre-left that every election is existential. That the costs of losing power are so high. But that's where we are.