The Mail reports today that May vetoed security service requests to look into the man who channeled £8m into the unofficial Leave camp.

Arron Banks – the controversial figure who pumped £8m into the unofficial Leave campaign – is currently under investigation by the National Crime Agency over alleged criminal offences relating to referendum spending. But reports today suggest Theresa May vetoed earlier action during the EU vote.

The Electoral Commission handed over a huge dossier to the NCA this week, believing that the mining and insurance investor is not ‘the true source’ of £8m in donations to Leave.EU parent company Better for the Country.

Banks was the largest individual donor to Brexit, with £2.9m of his money used to fund referendum spending and donations during the regulated period of the EU referendum.

But The Mail reports today that as Home Secretary, Theresa May refused requests to investigate the donor:

“In early 2016 the then home secretary Theresa May declined a request by one of the security services to investigate Banks- as the topic was simply too explosive in the run up to the referendum.”

Questions to answer

Stephen Kinnock MP – a member of the Brexit Select Committee – told Left Foot Forward:

“If it is true that Theresa May prevented the security services investigating Arron Banks then, given the questions that have been asked about his financial conduct, she has serious questions to answer.

“The source of Banks’s money is bigger than Brexit – it goes right to the very heart of our democracy. The public have a right to know who is funding our politics, and the focus now must be ensuring we mend our broken system for future elections.”

The Guardian‘s Carol Cadwalladr – who has been investigating Banks – said it was ‘vital’ May responds:

Extraordinary claims in @DailyMailUK about @theresa_may refusing intelligence services request to investigate @arron_banks. Note: @tom_watson also made this claim at Labour conference as reported in @guardian. Absolutely vital that May responds to thishttps://t.co/iL7QPEBuBl

— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) November 2, 2018

Under the spotlight

Banks’ mining projects are said to be ailing, and his insurance business was propped up by a £77m cash injection from an unknown source, according to investigations by the openDemocracy website.

The former UKIP donor has admitted to having four meetings with Russian figures in the run up to the EU referendum.

Police are now likely to assess whether Banks’ £8m Leave.EU loans came from abroad – which would be illegal.

The NCA are expected to look into whether Kremlin money may have made its way into the Leave.EU campaign.

Critics have also challenged the BBC’s coverage of the claims:

The Guardian, Times and FT; Banks faces criminal inquiry. The BBC? Banks rebuts charges he acted illegally. No more to be said. Surely the news is Banks faces a criminal inquiry- whose allegations he rebuts. Its may be a nuance: but 100 nuances start to tell.

— Will Hutton (@williamnhutton) November 1, 2018

There have been calls for the EU referendum result to be rendered invalid if it emerges that a primary source of funding for the Leave vote was illegal.

Labour MP David Lammy said Brexit “must be put on hold until we know the extent of these crimes against our democracy.”

Jason Arthur, co-founder For our Future’s Sake, said the case for a second referendum (or People’s Vote) was growing:

“If true, it would appear that at the highest level of British society there were already significant concerns about Arron Banks and his influence on British politics through his alleged dodgy dealings…all of which we believe strengthens the case for a People’s Vote.”

And Labour peer Andrew Adonis argues that reports of May’s inaction must form part of an official investigation into the Brexit campaign.

But Stephen Kinnock MP warned that overturning the Brexit result was not a solution: 

“Any attempt to overturn the EU referendum result would be riddled with legal difficulties in terms of proving the direct link between Banks’s money and an increase in the Leave vote, while further polarising our already divided nation.”

Dirty tricks

Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee is also currently investigating Banks’ role in the EU vote in its inquiry on disinformation.

Banks has responded by sending a letter to all of committee chair Damian Collins’ constituents, branding him a ‘snake in the grass’.

Collins responded in a Guardian piece this week, saying:

“[Banks] is angry that we asked him about his links to Russia, secret meetings with that country’s ambassador, connections to Cambridge Analytica, and where he found the funds to become the biggest donor in British political history, when so many of his businesses seem to lose money.

“Like so many would-be bullies, Banks likes to have a go at other people, but hates being questioned about his own affairs.”

Banks is the son-in-law of a Russian state official. He was in effect barred from working as a company director in Gibraltar after an investigation into his financial business there, the Times reports.

Left Foot Forward is awaiting comment from Number 10 on whether May vetoed an investigation into Banks during the EU vote.

Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.

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