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Exposed: How Paparazzi Spied on Phillip Schofield’s Sick Mother
#MediaToo investigation: the new dark arts
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EXCLUSIVEExposed: How Paparazzi Spied on Phillip Schofield’s Sick Mother9 January 2024
Six years on from Matt Hancock’s cancellation of Part II of the Leveson Inquiry into Press misbehaviour, and after Prince Harry’s landmark legal win revealed the extent of historic phone hacking and illegal private investigations in Mirror Group Newspapers under Piers Morgan’s editorship, Byline Times is looking at modern Fleet Street practices and asking: Whatever happened to the Last Chance Saloon?
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It’s like a relic of the Cold War – a remote surveillance camera artfully disguised among flowerbed greenery to spy on the unwitting.
Yet, this hidden eye isn’t from the 1950s and wasn’t deployed by some apparatus of the state. It was secreted by Britain’s most notorious paparazzo on private property to observe the movements of an ailing 87-year-old grandmother and her son.
Its purpose had nothing to do with the public interest. It was there solely to try and make easy unethical cash from the tabloid media.
In the first part of a new investigation, Byline Times is publishing exclusive images and video of the extraordinary surveillance tactics of photographer George Bamby, a stalwart of the tabloid game for more than 20 years.
They show 52-year-old Mr Bamby, of Paignton, Devon, larger than life wielding a telephoto lens, within the gated grounds of the home of Pat Schofield – mother of the troubled television star Phillip.
They also show the moment the former presenter discovers a remote camera belonging to Bamby, encased in a white plastic egg, camouflaged with tufts of grass, hidden among shrubs.
Its purpose, according to two sources, was to secretly monitor Pat Schofield’s movements to and from the hospital with her famous son – and allow Bamby to snatch long lens images to sell to the media.
The incident happened on 30 June 2023, while Mrs Schofield was receiving medical attention during a period of family crisis.
Her son was caring for her while himself at the centre of a media storm, having resigned from ITV's This Morning over an affair a month earlier following a 35-year presenting career. Pat’s other son, Timothy, was also beginning a 12-year sentence for child sex crimes after a highly publicised criminal trial.
Hidden Camera
A source with knowledge of the matter said: “It was a really difficult moment for the family. Pat was understandably distraught. It’s not as if pictures of Philip are hard to find, so there was no public interest. There was no good reason to even turn up at Pat’s home, less still to spy.
“Pat was so alarmed by the paparazzi presence that she didn’t want to leave the house, which made getting her to hospital or clinics very difficult. It had a huge impact.”
Another source said: “Philip was very upset when he found the secret camera. He confronted Bamby and took pictures of his own with his phone for evidence. Then Bamby lifted his camera and fired off a load more shots of Philip. It would have intimidated anyone. Philip wanted to take the matter to the police.”
The source added: “Bamby was being a major nuisance to Pat… In the end he went and put the camera in the bush on the private property of Pat’s own development. He wanted pictures of Philip of course, but that meant watching Pat too. She was collateral damage.”
A legal source said that the secret filming was a breach of not only professional standards – all media regulatory codes in the UK forbid the use of subterfuge under such circumstances – but also potentially criminal and civil laws.
Under the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) Editors’ Code of Practice the use of hidden cameras is forbidden unless with a clear public interest defence, as are unjustified intrusions into private and family life – an area also protected under the Human Rights Act 1998 – while intrusions into shock and grief must be made with “sympathy and discretion”.
A spokesperson for IPSO said it had already issued a “privacy notice” after a complaint.
The legal source said: “This is an intrusion into Mrs Schofield’s shock and grief at a time when she needed medical assistance. Whatever was going on in Philip Schofield’s life, there was no requirement for his photograph to be taken under these circumstances. It wasn’t needed in order to identify him – there are thousands of images of him in existence already.
“The photographer’s use of clandestine equipment on private property and then persistent taking of pictures could be characterised as harassment, trespass, and a clear breach of privacy. From a legal and ethical point of view, it is horrendous – completely indefensible behaviour.”
'Number One Paparazzi'
Freelance Bamby revels in being the UK's self-styled “number one paparazzi”, although – according to X (formerly Twitter) in October – he claims to have recanted on the career with an apology to former target Coleen Rooney in which he called himself a “horrible person”.
In an earlier autobiography, and a 2017 Channel 4 documentary Confessions of the Paparazzi, he spoke freely of the methods that made him familiar to national picture editors and gave him a reputation that some colleagues feel is a stain on their industry.
One colleague told Byline Times: “George has always pushed the boundaries of what’s right and ethical. Even among a group of characters as tough as paps, he stood out. His way of doing things has made it harder for all of us.”
The documentary revealed that Bamby once sent a fake fan with a backstory about a sick grandmother to give TV presenter Judy Finnigan a bottle of wine as a gift, while he looked on through the viewfinder of his Canon.
Bamby later cropped the ‘fan’ out of the final images, and his shots of Ms Finnigan holding the bottle later appeared in national media alongside a misleading story about her lifestyle. He also admitted to photographing Finnigan in a beer garden while she was blinking to make her look asleep.
As Bamby told Channel 4: “I don’t just take pictures, I make stories. They might not always be true.”
He also told how he once photographed actor Aidan Turner smoking an e-cigarette on the set of Poldark and invented a story about his smoking habit bringing filming to a halt. "Next day, full page in the Mail," he said. "I get two grand. They get the publicity. Readers get to read another load of shite. Happy days, innit?"
In a 2017 interview in The Times, Bamby spoke of targeting daytime television presenters in order to sell pictures to women’s magazines. He said: “People like Phillip [Schofield], Holly [Willoughby], all the Loose Women, Fern Britton, Richard and Judy. It’s easy money. If I can get [them] on the front of Best or Bella? That’s two or three grand.”
Last year, novelist and TV host Britton shared an Instagram reel about an upsetting experience she had with Bamby. “I've just had one of those distressing moments out of the blue,” she told her followers. “There's a pap, his name is George Bamby. “He’s a menace, and he’ll be proud to hear me say that. He’s an absolute menace.”
Britton claimed Bamby secretly snatched long-lens pictures through holes in the side of a vehicle. Referring to Bamby and a “spotter” colleague, Britton added: “I just saw them, up in my little village. I knew it was him, I haven’t seen him for years... He wrote me a letter a little while ago saying ‘I’m so sorry for everything I did to you, I feel so ashamed, I’ve found religion, I feel awful’. Hmm!”
‘Starmer’s Refusal to Confront the Press Isn’t Just a Mistake – It’s Irresponsible’
If the Labour Leader does not embrace media reform now, he never will – and the entire country will be far worse off as a result, writes Brian Cathcart
Brian Cathcart
Retirement?
Bamby’s 2017 self-incrimination led many national newspapers to place a moratorium on his material. But Byline Times has learned that he continued to sell to some outlets through a national picture agency, which this newspaper is not naming for legal reasons.
Last year, Bamby confessed to falsely claiming to be the son of Britain’s most notorious prisoner Charles Bronson for six years as part of a lucrative public relations stunt that generated “loads of money”.
Speaking after Bronson made a failed parole bid, Bamby told TalkTV: “Me and Charlie together made up the story that he was my dad. Charles Bronson is not my father. I am a PR agent. I’m a marketing person, and I’m the UK’s number one paparazzi. I’ve not told anybody this for six years and it’s been an absolute bane of my life.”
He added that he “didn’t even tell my wife, I didn’t even tell my family” and that "my wife is sat here now and she looks horrified”.
Bamby said the profits were split between him and Bronson’s consultant because people serving jail time are not legally allowed to profit from their wrongdoing. He said: “Me and Charlie… have made loads of money.
“We’ve had loads of fun, we’ve created loads of stories, we’ve done loads of ridiculous things, we’ve manipulated the media, we’ve manipulated the prison service. I got into the maximum security in four different prisons as a journalist.”
Bamby now claims to be foregoing his photographic career.
After watching Colleen Rooney’s documentary Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, he wrote last month: “I was the pap that used to photograph [Coleen and Wayne Rooney]. Can't believe what I used to do for a living. Totally ashamed. I am so sorry Wayne and Coleen for being such a horrible person!”
Bamby has since announced his retirement from the industry and has put his camera equipment on sale for £7,500.
A newspaper photographer source told Byline Times: “Bamby has been part of the reason why we get so much abuse as an industry. If he has actually retired from the business, we will believe it when we see it.”
Byline Times contacted George Bamby ahead of publication. He declined to comment on the confrontation with Philip Schofield and said he had not been contacted by police.
coming up next: catch and tell
Four Major Public Interest Scandals the Tabloids Covered Up
Witnesses Interviewed as Police and Murdoch Probes Into Dan Wootton Continue
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Dan Wootton remains at the centre of several separate inquiries following a special investigation into catfishing and abuse of power allegations published by this newspaper this summer.
On 2 October, the Metropolitan Police confirmed it was looking into matters connected to a 40-year-old man arising from a series of Byline Times articles unmasking Wootton as the controller of catfishing pseudonyms ‘Martin Branning’ and ‘Maria Joseph’.
It can now be confirmed that officers of the Met’s Complex Investigation Team have interviewed a number of people over matters raised by the articles and in connection with other allegations that cannot be reported for legal reasons.
There have been no arrests, although a witness against whom Wootton made counter-allegations was told last month that they will face no further police action. Wootton has denied any implications of criminal activity.
Officers have meanwhile been taking statements from a number of men in England and Scotland.
“There is top-level interest in the case within the police," one source said. "They are taking a belt-and-braces approach and will follow the evidence. There is a desire for people with information to come forward and get in touch via their local police station.”
News UK, publisher of The Sun – at which Wootton worked for eight years until 2021 and which has appointed external lawyers to look into the alleged targeting of employees and some celebrities – has yet to offer its findings to detectives, as it did in 2011 when it cooperated with a Scotland Yard inquiry into phone-hacking and bribery scandals.
However, sources close to the company speak of an investigation that continues to warrant further attention and remains a matter of corporate concern.
#MediaToo investigation AND CROWDFUNDER
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EXCLUSIVEWitnesses Interviewed as Police and Murdoch Probes Into Dan Wootton Continue14 December 2023
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EXCLUSIVERevealed: The Emails Behind the Royal ‘Cash-For-Leaks’ Affair9 December 2023
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EXCLUSIVEIn Plain Sight: The Picture the Palace Probe Missed9 December 2023
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EXCLUSIVEThe Truth About Megxit: How Dan Wootton and a ‘Cash-For-Leaks’ Scandal Split the Royal Family9 December 2023
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EXCLUSIVEExploding ‘Megxit’: How Dan Wootton and a Cash-for-Leaks Scandal Split the Monarchy25 October 2023
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‘Disappearing Dan Wootton Articles Show a Serious Need for S40 Alternative’11 October 2023
This is the start of a wider report into the toxic culture of the national media. We want to keep telling the story. Contributions to our #MediaToo crowdfunder will go directly to funding our journalism.
Contribute to our #MediaToo crowdfunder
The Murdochs’ chosen external counsel, London law firm Kingsley Napley, has in the past acted for the family itself. Its former partner Angus McBride was appointed News UK’s general counsel in 2016 after acting for CEO Rebekah Brooks in her 2014 Old Bailey acquittal on phone-hacking charges.
A company source said: “News UK is taking this very seriously. The fear is of a big Lizzo-style pile-on of litigants [US entertainer Lizzo is facing a string of sexual harassment and hostility-at-work court cases] bringing possible law suits that try and make the firm liable for the alleged activities of an employee.
“The very specific nature of the information Byline Times published about Dan Wootton has led to questions which keep leading to more questions. Even in comparison to the phone-hacking business of the last decade or so, this is causing surprises in-house.”
Byline Times has learned that News UK has spoken to colleagues of Wootton’s who say they were solicited online for digital material of a sexual nature by the catfishing pseudonyms ‘Martin Branning’ and ‘Maria Joseph’.
The company is now also believed to be in possession of digital evidence connecting Wootton to those names, while some separate workplace bullying and sexual harassment allegations are also under examination.
It is not clear whether News UK will make all or any of its findings public, per a letter from The Sun’s Editor-in-Chief Victoria Newton to the House of Commons’ Digital, Media and Sport Committee, which asked about the Wootton affair in July.
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“The company will want to make a public show of legal and regulatory compliance issues being dealt with robustly,” said a source. “However, no firm decision has been made on whether to share findings. We need to get to the bottom of it all properly first. No one has ever seen anything quite like it.”
Wootton remains suspended by GB News as its star presenter earning £600,000 a year plus share incentives, following a September misogyny storm which saw actor-turned-activist Laurence Fox and Calvin Robinson axed from the right-leaning news channel.
Sources within GB News suggest that Wootton, whose week-nightly primetime slot has since been filled by another presenter, is not expected to be making any imminent return to air amid continuing speculation about his permanent broadcasting future there.
“The bosses at GB News are trying to be as fair and rigorous as they can be," one source told Byline Times. "They do not want to end up with a messy legal battle with one of their star people over employment rights.”
Meanwhile, in September, Wootton placed his five-bedroom south-east London home on the market for £1.8 million, and has suggested to friends he might relocate to Scotland with his partner. Neither he nor his legal representatives responded to Byline Times request for comment.
GB News and the Met Police did not respond to requests for comment.
Dan Evans was a former News of the World colleague of Dan Wootton’s between 2007 and 2011. None of the sources cited in this story were paid
Do you have any information for our #MediaToo investigation?
Get in touch confidentially by emailing: news@bylinetimes.com
Revealed: The Emails Behind the Royal ‘Cash-For-Leaks’ Affair
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This article was first published in the November 2023 print edition of Byline Times
A series of anonymous emails blowing the whistle on payments by The Sun to the partner of a senior royal aide were written by three former colleagues of the controversial journalist Dan Wootton, a Byline Times investigation can reveal
This newspaper has received credible intelligence to suggest the three worked together to inform on the Murdoch tabloid’s former executive editor as they feared a cover-up by publisher News UK if they did not.
To protect themselves from exposure, the colleagues went to extraordinary lengths to cover their tracks, after reaching out to Scotland Yard, Buckingham Palace lawyers, and retired Guardian journalist Nick Davies.
Byline Times will not be identifying them as a matter of journalistic source protection. However, it can reveal how they presented themselves as being a temporary worker and a friend of a junior News UK administrator with access to The Sun’s editorial payment systems.
They acted following the publication of two stories about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their son Archie in June and July 2019, and the subsequent discovery of payments totalling £4,000 to a publicist whose partner is Prince William’s former press officer Christian Jones.
For the first time, this newspaper is reproducing some of the emails’ content. Part of them reads: “If a journalist is using someone’s [partner] to pay Prince William’s PR for information about his own brother and sister-in-law that shouldn’t happen.”
They add: “Someone in editorial started questioning why stories that weren’t on the front page were getting thousands of pounds in fees. My friend says someone saw a string of payments within a few weeks to [the publicist, Jones’ partner] about royals and then asked who this person was. They couldn’t understand why a showbiz PR would have that kind of knowledge.”
The insider information was later handed to Neil Basu, the former Met Police Assistant Commissioner overseeing counter-terrorism at the time, and led to two internal inquiries at Buckingham Palace.
News UK denies making any unlawful payments to third parties, and Jones and his partner say they did not provide private information about the Sussexes to The Sun.
Byline Times has sourced its own copies of the emails, which were first addressed to Nick Davies in spring 2020.
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Davies – whose investigations for the Guardian exposed the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World, leading to that newspaper’s closure in 2011 and a major Old Bailey trial – confirmed his role in passing on the anonymous communications to relevant third-parties.
“I am retired, but I still get approached with stories two or three times a week and have to say no to them,” he said. “But this email was clearly important. There was a clear public interest if there had been misfeasance by a public official. It was important and there was clearly a chance that what was being said was true. So I boosted it into the hands of people with power.”
First, Davies reached out to lawyers for the Duke of Sussex, who also passed the information on to Neil Basu.
“I was in the middle, and I admitted I had no idea if what the email said was true,” Davies added. “It was detailed information, but the truth was not clear. The police needed some kind of evidence to put before a judge to get a warrant to go to Buckingham Palace and search Christian Jones’ records and those at The Sun. They needed to meet the source to get a sworn statement or some other form of sworn evidence. I urged them [the anonymous whistleblower] to meet the police, who were willing to do so off-the-record, but the source would not come forward.”
The information in the emails was so detailed and credible, however, that it prompted the Duke of Sussex to explore a civil lawsuit with a formal ‘letter before action’ to The Sun. The information they contained centred on the appropriateness of payments going to the partner of someone acting in an official capacity for the Royal Family.
The Sun front page 09.01.20 The Emails
Byline Times can reproduce parts of the emails which went on to have such wide-reaching ramifications.
Posing as The Sun worker’s friend, the authors wrote to Davies: “I understand you are now retired from journalism. Perhaps if this is not of interest to you directly, you might wish to pass it on to someone capable if you think it worthwhile. I have no wish to be involved because I would fear for the safety and wellbeing of my loved ones. You played a pivotal role in exposing wrongdoing at News International. The company, now News UK, claims to be the cleanest media company in the world. It is not. I will give you one example. See where it leads.”
The emails claimed to be from a News UK worker who, during a brief period of employment there, had access to payment systems used by editorial teams and had knowledge of internal legal compliance protocols. The worker, it was claimed, had maintained a friendship with a second whistleblower at the tabloid.
One email went on: “Everyone there now has to undergo strict training to avoid corrupt payments, but at The Sun they are circumventing this. I know this because there is one case involving one of the top editors, Dan Wootton, that has been hushed up.”
The email continued: “The impression my friend gave is that only a few people within The Sun know about it. They’ve told me before that when the connection was made between [Christian Jones’ partner, the publicist] and Jones there was a real sense of panic because Wootton is so powerful within that office.
“He deals directly with [chief executive] Rebekah Brooks on stories sometimes, he has his own radio show, and he’s forced out a lot of people as he’s moved up through the organisation. He’s tried and succeeded to get people sacked. He’s that powerful.”
EXCLUSIVE
The Truth About Megxit: How Dan Wootton and a Cash-For-Leaks Scandal Split the Royal Family
As Scotland Yard probes the journalist Dan Wootton over allegations of blackmail and serial sexual catfishing after a three-year special investigation by Byline Times, this newspaper can now reveal
how his payments to the partner
of a top royal aide forced the
Duke and Duchess of Sussex to run
from the UK
Dan Evans and Tom Latchem
Explaining the situation, the emails continue: “[Dan Wootton] is a showbiz journalist, but in the last year or so, if you check you will see he has written a number of stories about the Royal Family. There were concerns raised internally last year over a number of payments he had made, totalling thousands of pounds, to a freelance PR.
“If you look on Google, [the publicist] worked for a number of showbiz PR firms, so perhaps not a big deal. The reason concerns were flagged was because Wootton suddenly began paying [the publicist] thousands of pounds … for royal stories, starting on or around 15 July last year (2019).”
It went on: “These began with large payments of £3,000 upwards for single stories about the Duchess of Sussex that only someone very close to them could know about. The information was very detailed and questions were asked very discreetly internally about why the amounts paid were suddenly so high about stories possibly involving public officials (which is a big red flag at News UK now).
“The answer, it was quickly established, was that [the publicist] is the partner of William and Kate’s press secretary, Christian Jones.”
The email went on: “By the company’s own updated rules, any suspicion of a payment to a public official should be flagged up immediately to lawyers. The reason I’m contacting you is that this didn’t happen. I have no reason why although given the seniority of the journalist and the panic it would cause internally, perhaps that is sufficient explanation.
“Only a handful of people had direct knowledge of it and I’m not sure Dan Wootton was even confronted about it. I don’t know the journalists personally but it really angers me that good people, secretaries even, lost jobs on the News of the World and here we are again possibly and it has not even been looked into.”
The emails go on: “After I left I heard someone involved was so angry they had emailed a Mr Basu at Scotland Yard last December about it and possibly even a royal servant called Tyrrell [Gerrard Tyrrell, the Royal Family’s lawyer] to tip them off.
“All I know is [the publicist] is on The Sun’s payment system under a ZC (contributor) number paid lots of money by Dan Wootton, I know that much. The paper trail is there if someone wants to find it. It seems rotten to me. I hope this is of interest.”
In a subsequent email, the whistleblowers confirmed the detail of [the publicist’s] contributor code: “I think [the publicist’s] ZC number is ZC634*** [Byline Times’ redaction]. My friend thinks there was a payment for £3,000 made around the 15 July last year for a story about the Duchess of Sussex and her nannies which was published on 28 June. There was also a payment of £1,000 made for a story about godparents to Meghan’s son. I don’t have any more details and I don’t know if I can get any more without arousing suspicion for my friend.”
EXCLUSIVE
In Plain Sight: The Picture the Palace Probe Missed
In 2020, Simon Case was tasked to investigate payments from Dan Wootton and The Sun to the partner of a royal press officer, allegedly for information about Prince Harry and Meghan. He found there was no evidence of wrongdoing. But Byline Times can shed further light
Tom Latchem and Dan Evans
The informants went on to talk about internal compliance policies intended to protect News UK from Operation Elveden-type scandals and bribery allegations.
Since Elveden, which closed down in 2016, News UK has upgraded its internal compliance systems to flag suspicious payments to serving public officials with a self-certifying system based around e-learning modules.
The email added: “This is used for every new contributor the company pays like a source. It’s a single sheet and has a box on it which asks the journalist to tick yes/no whether the person is a public official.”
Byline Times understands that the New York HQ of parent company News Corporation could be alerted to red flags. It followed the creation in 2011 of a management standards committee, one of whose first jobs was to assist UK police and act as ‘assisting suspects’ in the Elveden probe, and hand over evidence against employees in order to avoid corporate charges, which could have infringed the US Federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act with the potential to impact directly on owner Rupert Murdoch.
The email went on: “People internally on editorial … started getting suspicious about the scale of the payments made by Wootton, looked at it, someone did some research and found the connection between Jones and [his partner], presented it to the same senior execs, who then recoiled in horror at what had been found and stuck their heads in the sand without taking it further.”
It added: “Basically [they] said, yep, anyway, let’s move on, it’s a great story by Dan. I don’t think there’s any desire to push for it to be investigated. I think the view internally is to let sleeping dogs lie and hope no one ever makes the connection independently.”
Byline Times put a series of detailed questions to a lawyer for the Royal Family, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Dan Wootton, Christian Jones, Jones’ partner, and Simon Case.
The allegations about payments were put to News UK in 2020, when Byline Investigates, the sister website of Byline Times, first revealed payments were made. News UK threatened to sue in order to stifle publication. The identities of the senior executives said to have known about the connection between Christian Jones and his partner are not known and the extent that News UK management know that this happened, if at all, is unclear.
Dan Evans and Tom Latchem are former colleagues of Dan Wootton’s from the News of the World between 2007 and 2011. None of the sources or analysts cited either in this story or wider investigation were paid
In Plain Sight: The Picture the Palace Probe Missed
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This article was first published in the November 2023 print edition of Byline Times
It’s the friendship Prince William’s former right-hand-man Simon Case concluded simply didn’t exist. And yet here are one-time royal press secretary Christian Jones and his publicist partner huddling together for an intimate celebratory photograph with ‘cash-for-leaks’ journalist Dan Wootton.
The occasion was Wootton’s 35th birthday party in March 2018. The location was the private terrace of a £1,675-a-night suite at London’s exclusive hotel The Ned. The guests were 20 “incredible friends” (in Wootton’s own words) – hand-picked to enjoy his extensive largesse. The issue is that it was a ‘friendship’ that – when legal documents later named Christian Jones – he flatly denied.
None of which could have seemed possible as Jones and his partner toasted the birthday boy – just a few days from winning a third British Press Award for ‘Showbiz Reporter of the Year’, and five years before he was unmasked as a serial catfish targeting young celebrities and colleagues for sexual images – with Veuve Clicquot among the potted peonies and Carrara marble tables on the 35m sq entertaining terrace of a hotel suite complete with a mahogany four-poster bed and roll-top bathtub.
One of the party’s attendees told Byline Times that “there was no expense spared” and “everyone invited was part of Dan’s special group of mates”.
“Dan hired a private dining room and laid on a set menu with three options for each course,” they said. “It was champagne and cocktails and whatever you wanted from the menu. Just 20 ate and then a few more turned up to celebrate with Dan upstairs on his terrace before heading on to a club in Shoreditch. It was lavish. There was no expense spared. Everyone invited was part of Dan’s special group of mates. Dan paid for everything.
This apparent closeness, as illustrated by the photo Wootton uploaded to Instagram and captioned with three red hearts on 11 March 2018, presented a problem, however, for Jones and his long-term publicist partner.
For, after Jones took the job of deputy communications secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in December 2018, Wootton paid the publicist for stories which, according to a whistleblower account, led to a secretive internal investigation at The Sun newspaper, which feared being sucked into a leaks scandal just a few years after some of its journalists were prosecuted over payments to public officials.
Christian Jones (right) and Dan Wootton at The Ned ‘Just A Fluke’
The Sun has never confirmed anything on the record, but Byline Investigates – the sister website to this newspaper – revealed in June 2020 how lawyers for the Duke of Sussex, armed with credible but anonymously supplied information apparently originating from inside The Sun’s publisher News UK, were threatening to sue the tabloid over the publication of stories written by Wootton – and negatively spun against the Sussexes – headlined ‘Nanny McThree’ and ‘Tot Secret’.
They were published in June and July 2019 and centred on nannying and god-parenting arrangements for the Sussexes’ son Archie. Payments of £4,000 had been made to the publicist in August 2019 and were identified by way of an internal News UK accounting code. The matter had been referred to both Buckingham Palace and Britain’s then top anti-terrorism police officer, Scotland Yard’s Neil Basu, for investigation.
Basu’s job was to try to establish whether there was any case for a criminal prosecution for misconduct in public office – the crime for which nine police officers were convicted, based on evidence handed over by the Murdoch media empire to Scotland Yard’s 2016 Operation Elveden, for accepting money from journalists for information.
After the Metropolitan Police failed to obtain the full identity of the whistleblowing Sun insiders – which it required to obtain a warrant to search royal property – Simon Case, the then private secretary to Prince William, was tasked to investigate from within Kensington Palace, where Jones was employed.
Byline Times, through a number of sources close to the matter, has been able to establish some details of the investigation and the processes that ultimately cleared Christian Jones of wrongdoing. Both he and his partner insist the allegations that Wootton paid for private information about the Sussexes are incorrect.
But this newspaper can reveal that, although when formally questioned by Case – who is today the head of the British Civil Service and facing tough questions at the Covid Inquiry over the quality of decision-making during the pandemic – Jones admitted to knowing Wootton and dealing with him on a professional basis, he strongly denied that either he, or his partner, were close friends with the journalist.
“Quite a long and involved process resulted from Prince Harry’s lawyers sending a letter before action to The Sun,” one source said. “Of course, Christian had to be questioned by his bosses about it. He said that, yes, he had known Dan for a while, but that he did not know him very well, and that Prince William’s courtiers who appointed him didn’t have a problem with it.
“Christian also told them that his partner had indeed been paid by The Sun at the time stated in the whistleblower emails, and for the amounts described, but that the money related to stories about clients his partner represented in their work as a publicist, and was nothing to do with Prince Harry and Meghan.
“One of his partner’s clients supposedly had the same name as the Duchess of Sussex. There was the suggestion that this was the reason for some of the money paid and that the timing was just a fluke.
“On that basis, Christian faced no further action. He retained the confidence of Kensington Palace and later on had a couple of big promotions.”
Byline Times has learned that Jones’ position was that the allegations against him ought not to have been made at all on the basis of anonymous accusations, albeit they contained many correct details, including the internal News UK code, which warranted a legitimate case for further investigation.
Kensington Palace is understood to have sought to draw a line under the matter unless compelling new evidence emerged.
Alongside Wootton’s birthday Instagram photo, this newspaper has spoken to multiple other witnesses who say that Wootton tried to cultivate a friendship between the three.
EXCLUSIVE
The Truth About Megxit: How Dan Wootton and a Cash-For-Leaks Scandal Split the Royal Family
As Scotland Yard probes the journalist Dan Wootton over allegations of blackmail and serial sexual catfishing after a three-year special investigation by Byline Times, this newspaper can now reveal
how his payments to the partner
of a top royal aide forced the
Duke and Duchess of Sussex to run
from the UK
Dan Evans and Tom Latchem
‘It Wasn’t Like It Was A Secret’
“It is true that Dan knew [Jones’ partner] pretty well,” one source said. “At the time, they were quite a young publicist who had worked for a couple of the London agencies and were keen to get on in their career. Dan knew this and made a point of including [the publicist] in his group, beyond just seeing them at the usual premieres and television events where publicists and journalists tend to rub shoulders.
“For [the publicist], knowing Dan was undeniably useful professionally. Dan had a hell of a lot of power with the Murdoch press and [the publicist] sometimes had clients who either wanted to be in those papers or to be kept out of them.
“They enjoyed the benefits of knowing Dan. Sometimes they got to use The Sun’s box at the 02 for gigs. They were often around each other socially in the West End. You’d see them at the usual media haunts like Soho House and Shoreditch House.
“Sometimes Christian was there too. He got to know Dan through his partner. They used to go out together quite regularly for a while, sometimes in a small group, sometimes in larger ones, for food and drinks. It wasn’t like it was a secret. Lots of people in their social set saw them and knew about it and, justifiably, assumed they were pretty close.”
Wootton was at the zenith of his personal power at The Sun and on a senior rota to periodically assume overall editing duties when Jones took up his post at Kensington Palace around Christmas 2018.
Jones’ principal job was to handle media matters for the Cambridges – his actual employers – with a dual role to look after the Sussexes. But a few weeks into his new appointment, Jones himself became the story.
On 23 January, The Sun published photos of Jones out in London’s Notting Hill with the Duchess of Sussex under the headline: ‘“WHAT A HOTTIE” Meghan Markle’s hunky new press secretary sets pulses racing as female fans urge Harry to “be careful”’.
Alongside paparazzi pictures snatched after a low-key work lunch with Meghan, who at the time was pregnant with Archie, the paper wrote: “Royal fans have been left hot under the collar after Meghan Markle stepped out with her hunky new press secretary.”
The article went on to quote social media comments praising Jones’ physical appearance and cited his LinkedIn CV, crediting the Cardiff University graduate as being a former Brexit speechwriter and Treasury press officer.
“In his new role,” the piece added, “he will liaise with British and international media as well support the royals’ charitable work and engagements.”
A media management source said the article “raised eyebrows” at the palace at the time, considering Jones’ “main job was to be a trusted point-man to guide and protect his employers from invasive media” coverage. Yet, this was the “equivalent of clattering straight into the first hurdle”.
Byline Times understands that any social connection between Wootton, Jones, and his partner ended following the investigations into the payments.
The first source said that “the friendships pretty much died” after this because for Jones or his partner to be seen publicly with Wootton “would have been a very bad look”.
Despite the inauspicious start to working life at the royal household, Jones went on to enjoy a successful three years there during which he stepped into the shoes of Simon Case, when Boris Johnson brought him into his Government during the pandemic, to be the private secretary to the Cambridges.
He left Prince William and Kate in January 2021 to become a partner and head of corporate affairs for Bridgepoint, a £31.56 billion private asset investment fund in the City.
EXCLUSIVE
Revealed: The Emails Behind the Royal ‘Cash-For-Leaks’ Affair
Detailed but anonymous testimony from insiders at The Sun sat at the heart of cash-for-leaks allegations involving a royal official and the newspaper’s former top editor Dan Wootton. Now, Byline Times can publish the details for the first time
Dan Evans
Again, The Sun covered the career change, noting that Jones had enjoyed an “incredibly close relationship with Prince William”. The paper wrote: “Whereas Simon was credited with making the Duke a statesman – Christian has really helped them to steer them through their public-facing role during the pandemic. He’s helped them to grow in confidence by gently pushing them out of their comfort zone.”
Today, Jones’ partner continues to work as a publicist with some high-profile clients.
Wootton did not comment on the record at the time of the 2020 Byline Investigates story. But his lawyers at Mishcon de Reya, one of Britain’s most costly law firms, denied that any payments were made unlawfully to a public official or a proxy and claimed their client was the victim of a smear campaign by unknown bad actors.
Byline Times put a series of detailed questions to a lawyer for the Royal Family, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Dan Wootton, Christian Jones, Jones’ partner, and Simon Case.
Dan Evans and Tom Latchem are former colleagues of Dan Wootton’s from the News of the World between 2007 and 2011. None of the sources or analysts cited either in this story or wider investigation were paid
The Truth About Megxit: How Dan Wootton and a ‘Cash-For-Leaks’ Scandal Split the Royal Family
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This article was first published in the November 2023 print edition of Byline Times
King Charles withdrew his £700,000 funding deal for son Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s transition to a life in Canada in retaliation for the naming of a top royal aide in legal papers alleging a cash-for-leaks arrangement with the journalist Dan Wootton, Byline Times can reveal.
The financial sanction came after the Duke of Sussex defied the demands of the then Prince of Wales and palace staff by declining to remove the name of former Kensington Palace press secretary Christian Jones from a ‘letter before action’ to Wootton’s former employer The Sun in May 2020.
Jones denies any suggestion of wrongdoing or leaking confidential information about the royal household.
The matters alleged in the letter before action about him appear to have been dropped, but the sudden defunding of the Sussexes in late June 2020 led to the collapse of the ‘Sandringham Agreement’ governing a 12-month trial period as the couple sought to split their time between the UK and Canada and remove themselves from the ‘royal rota’ – the press pool given exclusive inside access to cover the royals.
It came just three months into the trial period and led directly to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex having to enter into private commercial arrangements to pay the estimated £3 million-a-year cost of 24-hour security for their family.
One well-placed source with knowledge of the matter told Byline Times: “They threatened the removal of the funding to try and protect the royal household from a potential courtroom scandal with Jones and Wootton very publicly at the centre. The actual removal of the funding weeks later was about control, and designed to force Harry and Meghan to come back to the senior royal family in the UK where their security would be assured.”
EXCLUSIVE
In Plain Sight: The Picture the Palace Probe Missed
In 2020, Simon Case was tasked to investigate payments from Dan Wootton and The Sun to the partner of a royal press officer, allegedly for information about Prince Harry and Meghan. He found there was no evidence of wrongdoing. But Byline Times can shed further light
Tom Latchem and Dan Evans
The source added: “The greater truth is that Harry and Meghan make better headlines than the King and Camilla or William and Kate. The idea of them still being in public service but abroad and out of the control of the institution and dominating the media narrative just couldn’t happen.
“Senior members of the family wanted them back after the transition period and were ready to continue playing dirty to make this happen. They never thought the trial period would work and tried everything to make it fail, starting with the removal of security and then signing off on a 12-month assault by the UK press on Harry and Meghan and everyone in their orbit.
“As far as the institution of the monarchy went, the Sussexes had either to be safely in the tent in Britain or cast away and castigated as comprehensively as possible in order to reduce the threat of them eclipsing the rest of the family.
“It’s no surprise they have endured such a degrading time from such a willing British media, when the same just isn’t true elsewhere in the world.”
‘The Telling Detail’
As part of a three-year special investigation into the professional and personal conduct of Dan Wootton, Byline Times has spoken to several sources with connections to the royal households about how the partner of Christian Jones, a publicist, came to be paid £4,000 by Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun in August 2019 – allegedly for articles relating to the Sussexes.
It is understood that the professional publicist admits to receiving the payments, but has claimed they were for other stories about a reality television star with a similar name to the Duchess of Sussex.
Jones has always denied being the source of any unauthorised information about the Sussexes getting into the press, including details of a written summary that Prince Harry had given Prince Charles in December 2019 of plans to move his family to North America, which Wootton reported initially on the front page of The Sun on 7 January 2020, before running day after day of negative coverage.
In his bestselling book Spare, the Duke of Sussex said Wootton’s information included a “telling detail” about an offer to relinquish their titles. “There was only one document on Earth in which that detail was mentioned – my private and confidential letter to my father,” he writes. “To which a shockingly, damningly small number of people had access. We hadn’t mentioned it to even our closest friends.”
Byline Times can reveal how the story, so-called Megxit, was published on the same day the Sussexes were planning their own announcement. It prompted a constitutional crisis and wrongly claimed that Prince Harry had blindsided his then 93-year-old grandmother – provoking a widespread public backlash – when, in fact, according to Spare, the Queen had been aware of it since 3 January.
In the book – in which Wootton is referred to as a “sad little man” – Prince Harry revealed how a further meeting set up with the Queen was blocked by palace staff and how she had already signed-off on a previous plan for her grandson and Meghan to move in part to South Africa.
Two well-placed sources have confirmed to this newspaper that Prince Charles’ private secretary Sir Clive Alderton and the then Lord Chamberlain, Lord Peel, a close friend of Prince Charles, strongly urged Prince Harry to have Jones’ name stripped from the record.
It followed an internal inquiry conducted by Simon Case, then the private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge, and a close colleague of Jones, who concluded that – having heard him deny the allegations that he leaked confidential information – there was no case to answer.
However, Byline Times has learned that Jones and his partner had already been named specifically in anonymous but highly detailed whistleblower testimony – which included an internal News UK ‘ZC’ contributor accounting code – purportedly from an administrator within The Sun, which was deemed credible enough to warrant referral to the Metropolitan Police, and which was integral to the legal letter.
EXCLUSIVE
Revealed: The Emails Behind the Royal ‘Cash-For-Leaks’ Affair
Detailed but anonymous testimony from insiders at The Sun sat at the heart of cash-for-leaks allegations involving a royal official and the newspaper’s former top editor Dan Wootton. Now, Byline Times can publish the details for the first time
Dan Evans
‘No One Wanted that Stuff to End Up in a Courtroom’
Part of the testimony, which was initially supplied to the respected retired investigative journalist Nick Davies, reads: “I think the publicist’s ZC number is ZC634***. My friend thinks there was a payment for £3,000 made around the 15th of July last year [2019] for a story about the Duchess of Sussex and her nannies which was published on 28 June. There was also a payment of £1,000 made for a story about godparents to Meghan’s son.”
A second source with links to the royal households told Byline Times that the “Christian Jones problem promised to drag the hidden dealings between the palaces and the press into the public domain”.
“That was deemed highly undesirable by the offices of Prince Charles and Prince William because there was always lots of horse-trading going on with the editors and their correspondents to ensure favourable coverage and protection when scandals broke,” the source continued. “No one wanted that stuff to end up in a courtroom. Harry and Meghan were expendable, but the heirs and their wives were not.
“It sent a chill through Clarence House [for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall] and Kensington Palace [for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge]. But the Sussexes – particularly Harry – were very keen to get to the bottom of it all.
“He wanted to know how their private information kept being spun into negative headlines in the biggest newspapers. He and Meghan had been stung very badly by the timing and manner of Wootton’s reporting on their plans to live part of the year abroad, which wasn’t even a new idea as the Queen had previously given her blessing for a move to South Africa, which hadn’t worked out.
“And then detailed intelligence had come up to suggest Wootton was paying the partner of a Kensington Palace official, who had a lot of access, for stories about his family. Harry seemed pretty determined to get to the bottom of it.
“A view was quickly taken within the royal households that everything needed to be brought under control. The removal of the transition funding, which Prince Charles knew was his son’s only lifeline to keeping safe, was considered a very effective way of trying to bring Harry and Meghan to heel in the UK. But it didn’t work.”
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Another source explained the mechanics of the royal institution’s competing media strategies.
They told Byline Times: “You need to understand the competition that is constantly in play between the offices of the senior members of the Royal Family. Each has their own staff and their own agendas. The primary objective is to protect the institution of the monarchy. Charles and Camilla are obviously at the top of the tree, and were even when the Queen was alive; William and Kate next. Anything that threatens the hierarchy, or the public perception of it, is a problem to be dealt with.
“Quite often these problems are tackled through the tactical use of the press. The offices of each family member have their own relationships with the very top people at the newspapers. If there are specific messages they wish to express, then it will usually be through the Mail, Mail on Sunday, and The Sun, or less frequently through The Times and Sunday Times. These papers continually report briefings spoon-fed from the palace without questioning them.
“This is why it was such a problem when Christian Jones was named in those legal letters. Whether it was true or not true that information Jones collected in the course of his work was ending up in The Sun, was not really the point.
“The point is that the Royal Family is doing deals and trades with the press all the time for favourable coverage and protection and to maintain public relevance. The naming of Christian Jones threatened to shine a light on the entire unethical relationship between the institution and the press barons and that could not be tolerated and had to be punished.”
And so it appears that the monarchy chose to side with a press secretary over Prince Harry.
Shifting Allegiances
Despite not holding a formal remit from The Sun to cover royal matters, Wootton – who was the newspaper’s executive editor for show-business and television coverage until he departed in 2021 to become the star presenter for GB News – started taking an increasing interest in royal stories in 2018.
On 13 March 2019, Wootton published an article in The Sun about an alleged falling out between Prince William and Kate and the Marquess and Marchioness of Cholmondeley, David Rocksavage and Rose Hanbury, whom the paper dubbed Kate’s “rural rival”. For reasons that are not clear, the article was subsequently removed from The Sun’s website, but remained widely reported elsewhere.
A former friend of Wootton’s told Byline Times that the journalist’s allegiance appeared to quickly shift from one prince to another.
“Dan hated Prince William until around May 2019,” they said. “Behind closed doors, he didn’t have a good word for him. He was always talking about his attitude. But Dan never criticised Harry, really. He never seemed to have much interest at all. Then, suddenly in the summer of 2019, he switched. Basically, he was hating on Harry and Meghan. He had previously been obsessed with Prince William. And then he switched to the Sussexes.”
Byline Times put a series of detailed questions to a lawyer for the Royal Family, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Dan Wootton, Christian Jones, Jones’ partner, and Simon Case.
Dan Evans and Tom Latchem are former colleagues of Dan Wootton’s from the News of the World between 2007 and 2011. None of the sources or analysts cited either in this story or wider investigation were paid
WATCH: Nigel Farage Used ‘Homophobic Racial Slur’ in Personal Message Video
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EDITOR'S NOTE
This article contains racially offensive language which readers will find distressing
Nigel Farage told a gay NHS worker they would “get nog dick for Christmas” in a message branded “racist, homophobic and ableist” by its recipient, Byline Times can reveal.
The politician charged around £75 for the recording in which he directed the allegedly racial slur – a reference to a black man’s body part – and another about a mental health condition, at the male mental health worker through the clip-sharing service Cameo.
The personalised message, sent on 23 December 2021, had been paid for by a man whom Farage had, five months earlier, been warned supported “the enforced deportation of Britons, incarceration and sterilisation based on skin colour” and the establishment of an “ethno-state”.
In the scripted 34-second clip, Farage said: “A message from [name], delivered by me Nigel Farage. You are a bit of an old loser. I diagnose you with ‘ID*D’, yes Intelligence Deficit [name] Disorder’.
“Now I’ve been sipping martinis on the beach with all the money from all these videos, which is absolutely marvellous. It’s really great that I am being paid... to insult you.
“That’s what [name] wanted me to do and I don’t find it difficult after all my years in the European Parliament.
“Meanwhile, you will get n*g dick for Christmas.”
The Cameo site and app allows fans to pay for personalised video messages, with more than 30,000 celebrities accessible via the platform. Farage has recorded more than 4,000 videos since March 2021, most recently just before entering the I'm a Celebrity jungle for ITV, grossing around £300,000 and paying him around £225,000 after Cameo's commission.
It was the second time Farage had accepted money from the person to record abusive messages aimed at the same NHS worker through the platform. An earlier message, sent in July 2021, in which Farage used the phrase “paper-thin snowflake” was removed from public view after a complaint.
Byline Times has seen emails in which Cameo confirms that it investigated Farage’s content on that occasion and acknowledged that the recipient – whose name along with the sender’s this newspaper is protecting – felt “harassed”. Cameo also made a private apology.
The recipient said: "In 2021 I, was working with young people… [who] were expressing racist views and I was talking to them via [Facebook] Messenger. I was trying to counter this. I gave up because I was getting nowhere and they paid Mr Farage to do a 30-second online video insulting me… I did email him asking him to steer them away from racism and he didn't reply.
"In December 2021, they paid for him to again insult me, this time saying how much he enjoyed insulting me and saying he hoped I got 'n*g dick for Christmas’. They meant black man’s penis.”
The man – who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and identifies as gay – added: “It was racist, homophobic and ableist. It was deeply offensive. Mr Farage does not know me. I was shocked to see him revelling in it. I could have been anyone. What if I had been 15 years old and struggling to come to terms with my sexuality? These words have real impact.”
He told Byline Times that he reported the matter to his local police station on Christmas Eve 2021.
"I did take it to the police who weren't interested but did say I could complain but would have to show how much he had caused the distress and alarm, which he didn't really, he just annoyed me,” he added.
The complainant followed up with three unanswered emails sent to an official address at nfarage.com telling the former MEP of his concerns about the people paying for the personalised message and their motives.
One email read: “Hi Nigel. You recently took £75 to do this video. I think you should have some context. I started talking to [the sender] because I was concerned [they were] at danger of becoming radicalised to the point of criminality. I stopped talking to them because of their refusal to stop using discriminatory language (including derogatory descriptions of young children based on skin colour). They repeatedly say that black people are genetically inferior and criminal. The solutions they propose include enforced deportation of Britons, incarceration and sterilisation based on skin colour towards and ethno-state.”
The recipient added: “I learned afterward that Farage queried the intended meaning of 'n*g dick’ with the customer before he sent it off. I don’t know what he was told but he is a smart enough person to know exactly how people would receive it.”
EXCLUSIVE
GB News Star Dan Wootton Unmasked in Cash-for-Sexual Images Catfishing Scandal
In the first part of its three-year special investigation, Byline Times reveals the accounts of victims targeted by the powerful TV presenter
Dan Evans and Tom Latchem
The Daily Express Steps In
This is not Farage’s first brush with direct-message controversy.
In October 2021, the former UKIP Leader shouted out “up the ‘RA” – a reference to the Irish Republican Army – in a different birthday greeting video on Cameo.
At the time, Farage said he always rejected unsuitable messages – which are written by the person paying – but said that this one had managed to “slip through the net”. His press officer claimed that the former Brexit Party Leader, who was a Member of the European Parliament for nearly 11 years, “probably didn’t know” the inflammatory meaning behind the phrase.
However, another former leader of UKIP, Alan Sked, said he heard Farage using the racial slur 'n*g-n*gs’ during their time co-founding the party. Although Farage has denied ever using the terms, he has been asked about them publicly since.
Sked, who quit the party in 1997 saying it had become racist, said Farage once told him: “There's no need to worry about the n****r vote. The n*g-n*gs will never vote for us."
Farage also addressed the issue in a 2014 interview with the LBC radio presenter James O’Brien.
Byline Times is publishing this article after Nigel Farage’s representatives took steps to publicise the allegations – suggesting they are part of a conspiracy to deny him a chance of winning the ITV reality show.
Having first instructed London law firm Carter Ruck to try and delay the story, in response to a request for comment, Farage’s team leaked its own version of events to the Daily Express newspaper.
The Express did not approach Byline Times for comment or any background information before publishing its own story – which claims, uncritically, that the Cameo message was a “set up” by “remain supporters to embarrass Nigel”.
It is not known whether Farage’s camp made the Express aware of the racist views held by the man who commissioned the Cameo video or that Farage had been emailed in clear terms about the man, his extreme beliefs, and that he saw Farage as a “leader”.
ITV is paying the former City stockbroker £1.5 million to appear in its primetime ITV series, and he is currently sitting as the fourth-favourite to be crowned ‘king of the jungle’.
Farage has calmly tackled the show’s Bushtucker trials, with viewers voting to watch him eat camel udder and crocodile teat as well as pizza topped with sheep penis, pig penis, and bull and crocodile penis – during which he even managed an unlikely ‘mmm’ for the cameras.
EXCLUSIVE
Exploding ‘Megxit’: How Dan Wootton and a Cash-for-Leaks Scandal Split the Monarchy
The first retail edition of Byline Times’ monthly newspaper reveals the world exclusive story about why Prince Harry and Meghan really left the Royal Family
Dan Evans and Tom Latchem
He also got caught in a tense exchange with campmate Nella Rose, an influencer born in Belgium to Congolese parents before arriving in the UK in 2009, on the subject of immigration.
Farage claimed Britain's population had risen by 10 million since 2000, adding this was making it harder to get an NHS appointment or a 'filling' with a dentist. But as Rose said a lack of NHS funding was to blame, an exasperated Farage said: “Stop it. Stop. Nella, you're not listening to a single word I'm saying.”
Rose then asked Farage: “Let's get everything out in the open. Apparently you're anti-immigrants?” Farage asked: “Who told you that?” Rose said: “The internet.”
Farage replied: “Oh, well there we are then it must be true,” while Rose asked: “It must be! okay, but then why don't black people like you?”
Farage replied: “You'd be amazed, they do” – to which Rose reacted: “Nigel! Nigel!”
'Real Threat and Fear’
Farage has repeatedly denied being racist and has claimed that black people, in areas such as Catford in south London, stop him for selfies.
Farage also denied being anti-immigrant. He told campmate Rose: “No, no, all I've said is we cannot go on with the numbers coming to Britain that are coming.” To which Rose replied: “I'm one of the numbers.”
Farage remains active on Cameo and was posting out greetings as recently as 11 November.
His account – in which he describes himself with the words 'they call me Mr Brexit... some people say I am controversial, and I couldn’t care less’ – is “temporarily suspended” while he remains in the Australian jungle.
In one message from 3 October this year, Cameo user ‘Massimo’ thanked Farage for a quick two-hour turnaround on a message when the site says it could take up to seven days. Praising Farage for having also “embellished my script”, Massimo gave the politician a five-star rating.
Farage will return to his prime-time presenter role for GB News at a time of great uncertainty for a Conservative Party preparing for a likely period in opposition after the next general election.
Farage led UKIP from 2006 until 2009, and again from 2010 to 2016. He joined the party – which campaigned for the UK to leave the EU – in 1993 after leaving the Conservatives, and was elected to Brussels as an MEP in 1999.
As UKIP Leader, he campaigned claiming that European migrants were depriving British people of jobs. It made him popular among certain parts of the electorate, but while UKIP enjoyed European election and local council success, Farage was never able to replicate this in general elections, despite himself standing seven times for Parliament.
He stood down as UKIP Leader weeks after the 2016 EU Referendum, claiming that he had achieved his "political ambition" – and later formed the Brexit Party, now Reform UK, of which he remains honorary president.
Westminster sources have told Byline Times of the “real threat and fear” felt by centrist Conservatives should Farage win a by-election and force his way into the Conservative leadership, backed by media allies at GB News, a major investor in which is Sir Paul Marshall, the investment fund magnate.
“The more fuel Farage gets to maintain his profile, through GB News and shows like I’m a Celebrity, the more of a threat he is to the party if he gets a parliamentary seat in a by-election,” said one political source.
Labour MP Clive Lewis told Byline Times: “No one should be surprised at his use of racist language. This is, after all, the same individual that pleaded with Enoch Powell to [endorse] UKIP. The same individual that was described by one of his teachers as having 'publicly professed racist and neo-fascist views’. What’s actually more concerning is the fact ITV are now playing their part in normalising his voice.”
Byline Times asked Farage’s office for a comment.
His spokesperson told the Daily Express: “When Nigel first joined Cameo, there was a concerted effort by remain supporters to hijack the platform to embarrass Nigel by getting him to read out obscure rude words and in-jokes between friends.”
Claiming the scripted request had “slipped through the net”, the spokesperson added: “In the video, Nigel was asked by a customer on Cameo to read a message they had written for a friend. Had Nigel known that the message he was asked to read contained an obscure offensive word, he would not have made the video.”
Cameo did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Surrey Police could not confirm or deny the 24 December 2021 report.
The full version of the racial term was only used in the first line of this article to clarify to readers, for accuracy, what the term is.
Additional reporting by Adam Bienkov
Book at Lunchtime: Celebrity Culture and the Myth of Oceania
An intriguing case study on how popular images of Oceania, mediated through a developing culture of celebrity, contributed to the formation of British identity both domestically and as a nascent imperial power in the eighteenth century. At the end of the eighteenth century metropolitan Britain was entranced by stories emanating from the furthest edge of its nascent empire. In the experience of eighteenth-century Britain, Oceania was both a real place, evidenced by the journals of adventurers like Joseph Banks, the voyage books of Captain James Cook and the growing collection of artefacts and curiosities in the British Museum, and a realm of fantasy reflected in theatre, fashion and the new phenomenon of mass print.
In this innovative study Ruth Scobie shows how these multiple images of Oceania were filtered to a wider British public through the gradual emergence of a new idea of fame - commodified, commercial, scandalous - which bore in some respects a striking resemblance to modern celebrity culture and which made figures such as Banks and Cook, Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers on Pitcairn Island into public icons. Bringing together literary texts, works of popular culture, visual art and theatrical performance, Scobie argues that the idea of Oceania functioned variously as reflection, ideal and parody both in very local debates over the problems of contemporary fame and in wider considerations of national identity, race and empire.
David Garrick's Wigless Celebrity
Ruth Scobie's bite-sized talk on a portrait of David Garrick by Johan Zoffany Dr Ruth Scobie looks at a portrait by Johan Zoffany of the eighteenth-century actor David Garrick, and asks what the picture's notorious wiglessness has to do with the actor's control of his extraordinary contemporary celebrity, in a TORCH Bite-Sized Talk at the Ashmolean Museum's Live Friday: Framed! event.