The research identifies a “media-political complex” funded largely by a handful of billionaires.
Funding for the populist right-wing media political ecosystem exceeded more than £170m in five years, according to new research, which shows how right-wing media organisations, politicians and donors are working hand in glove to promote their ideology.
The research carried out by Labour MP Liam Byrne, who chairs parliament’s business committee, said he had identified a “media-political complex” funded largely by a handful of billionaires.
Analysing data from the Electoral Commission, which included more than 500 entries between January 2020 to February 2026, the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, Companies House filings and civil society reports, the research found that more than £130m can be traced to just four entities: Crypto investor Christopher Harborne, the hedge fund manager Paul Marshall, the Dubai-based investment firm Legatum and the financier Jeremy Hosking.
Legatum and Paul Marshall fund GB News.
The Guardian reports: “The vast majority – more than £133m, or 76% of the total – went not to political parties but to three media organisations: GB News, the Critic, and UnHerd. Byrne said GB News “privileges and channels coverage to Reform politicians” while the Critic and UnHerd predominantly feature rightwing and “anti-woke” voices, although UnHerd claims to be non-partisan.”
Byrne told the Guardian: “Populist funders are not simply bankrolling parties. They are heeding the advice of political strategists from Alain de Benoist to Pat Buchanan and Andrew Breitbart – that politics is downstream of culture. They’re investing directly to support populist parties, but more important they’re investing in a media ecosystem, bankrolling the “polytainment” platforms that reward populist politicians with the currency of our age: attention, amplification, clicks and cash.”
The speed with which this right-wing eco-system has been set up in just five years shows how organised the right are but also shows the importance of why progressives must fight back.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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