Byline Times Audio Articles

Andrew Is Entitled to £500,000 Compensation for Losing Royal Lodge, Say Crown Estate

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Read our Digital / Print Editions Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY The disgraced former Prince, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is entitled to nearly £500,000 compensation for the early termination of his lease on Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, but is unlikely to get a penny because of the dilapidation of the property, according to a letter released by the Crown Estate to MPs today. Andrew lost his titles and the use of his home after King Charles decided continual disclosures about his longstanding association with the deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was damaging the reputation of the Royal Family. He has until the end of October next year to leave the property according to the terms of the lease. He would have been entitled to £488,342.21 but the letter states that the deterioration of the property means he is unlikely to get any money. The lease, which was released to MPs on the Public Accounts Committee, shows that the 100 acre estate, as well as the main house, includes a front gate lodge, six other lodge gates, a gardener's cottage, a police lodge for the Royal Protection Squad, a chapel lodge and a miniature cottage. The disclosure has led the Conservative chairman of the committee, Sir Geofrey Clinton -Brown, to decided to hold an inquiry into the Crown Estate and its relationship with the Royal Family. Boris Johnson and Alexander Lebedev Must Be Investigated in a New Public Inquiry into Russian Influence If you think the Gill conviction is bad, linking the Reform UK Party leader's closest aide to the Kremlin, wait till you hear about another Leave campaigner and his connections to Putin's inner circle Peter Jukes The lease made the former prince responsible for all the repairs to the properties and to maintain orchards and woodland. Miscellaneous provisions under the lease banned auctions, public shows or spectacles and political meetings on the premises. It also banned gambling, betting or wagering on the site. Placards on building were banned and a clause added the premises should not be used for " any illegal or immoral purposes." It discloses that the notional rent in 2002 would have been £260,000 a year but after the former prince agreed to spend £7.5 million on repairs it was reduced to a peppercorn rent which may not have been collected. The letter says a meeting to discuss the surrender of the lease and a preliminary inspection of the property was held on November 12 - a fortnight after the King made the announcement. Following questions from MPs, the Crown Estate has also released details of other properties occupied by the Royals in Windsor Great Park. The Prince and Princess of Wales have signed a 20 year lease on Forest Lodge in July this year and intend to use it as their primary residence. It is being let at market rate rents, set by estate agents Hamptons and Savills. Rachel Reeves and the Daily Mailification of the BBC For all the focus on its supposed "left wing bias", the BBC's heavy coverage of Conservative allegations of dishonesty against Rachel Reeves shows how its political coverage is still largely led by the right-wing press Adam Bienkov Prince Edward, now the Duke of Edinburgh, initially leased Bagshot Park, in 1998 for 50 years at an initial rent of £90,000 a year. He spent £1,380,000 towards renovations and the Crown Estate spent £1.6 million on repairs. In 2007 the lease was negotiated for 150 years at a premium of another £5 million. Princess Alexandra and her family have leased Thatched Cottage Lodge in the park since 1971. The lease was renegotiated in 1995 for £670,000 with a fixed rent of £1010 a year for the first 25 years rising to £6000 for the last 25 years. Andrew Mountabtten Windsor also leased two cottages on the Sunninghill Park near the Windsor Estate. One has been surrendered, the other, which is let to a member of his staff, has not been surre...

The Reform-Backed Far-Right Street Patrols Coming to British School Gates

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Read our Digital / Print Editions Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY Nationalist vigilante 'street patrol' groups with ties to Reform UK and the far right are falsely claiming to be working with the police, while seeking to infiltrate local school networks in order to "protect" women and children, Byline Times can reveal. Earlier this year we revealed how one such group, the Essex Spartans had been seeking to recruit "boots on the ground" for its "volunteer service protecting vulnerable residents, particularly women, children, and the elderly". The group is based in Epping, near the scene of this year's far right protests over the hosting of asylum seekers at the Bell Hotel. They claim to be a local grassroots organisation, but in reality have ties to senior far-right figures across the UK. The group's social media profiles carry pictures of its uniformed members touring the streets in stab proof vests, in order to "protect" local women and children, in claimed "partnership" with the police. However, local police deny any such involvement with the group. Since our earlier reporting on the group, a number of other connected groups have sprung up both in Essex and elsewhere in the country, claiming to be "collaborating" with the Essex Spartans. Offering what can be defined as "concierge nationalism" these groups advertise walk-you-home escorts, street patrols, SOS apps and premium mentorship through QR codes and subscription models. However, in recent months their activity has escalated into an attempt to infiltrate local school networks, prompting serious safeguarding concerns. Enemies at the Gates Documents seen by Byline Times show that the Essex Spartans contacted at least one educational trust responsible for several schools in Epping Forest. They introduced themselves as a new "Community Interest Group" claiming to work with police to make local streets safer. The services they offered included patrols around schools at drop-off and collection times, meetings with school leaders, and information letters for parents. They described members as being DBS checked, uniformed, carrying ID badges, and using a QR code system linking calls directly to police. The trust declined the offer. The group's founder Jack Golding has claimed to be working "in partnership with Essex police". However, the police have denied any connection to the group. Chief Superintendent Leighton Hammett of Essex Police told Byline Times: "While we are aware of this group, we are not affiliated with them, we do not endorse or promote their activity, and we do not work with them. This directly contradicts the group's claims. An Extremist History Essex Spartans claim their members are DBS checked. However, the only evidence offered is a Facebook montage of certificates that lack official seals and reference numbers. The group also admits that not all members hold Security Industry Authority (SIA) licences, saying only licensed members may carry handcuffs. UK law requires frontline private security roles, including security guards and door supervisors, to hold a valid SIA licence. Working in these licensable activities without one would be a criminal offence. The lack of transparency is particularly concerning given the past rhetoric of their founder Jack Golding. Byline Times has seen evidence from his social media history where Golding posted racist comments about Muslims and Black people, and made mysogynistic comments, including writing "Took my girlfriend out last night… Yeah, one punch." This history of racist and misogynistic rhetoric directly undermines the group's current claims to be "protecting women and girls." EXCLUSIVE Concierge Nationalism: How the Far-Right Is Selling Extremism as a Lifestyle Service Vigilantes with links to Neo-Nazi groups are whipping up fear about migrants while soliciting donations for accompanying...

Boris Johnson and Alexander Lebedev Must Be Investigated in a New Public Inquiry into Russian Influence

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Read our Digital / Print Editions Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY Reposted from Peter Jukes' narrative project, Trojan Horses: Trump, Russia, Brexit With the news that a poll to call for a public inquiry has reached a sufficient number to be considered for a parliamentary debate, we might be inching closer to a full reckoning with the extensive 'active measures' and hybrid economic information war Vladimir Putin has waged against the UK since 2012. The 10-and-a-half year prison sentence Nathan Gill, former UKIP and Brexit Party MEP and Welsh Leader of Reform UK, for taking Kremlin-linked bribes, has turned an intelligence concern into a criminal conviction - and activated a live constitutional question. Nigel Farage's wingman in Strasbourg accepted around £40,000 to push pro-Kremlin lines in the European Parliament. One of Gill's bribes was to organise a roundtable for 'Putin's Man in Ukraine', Viktor Medvedchuk, who was also the ultimate payee of the Kremlin gold. This puts Nigel Farage firmly in the frame, directly linking one of his top aides to one of Vladimir Putin's. EXCLUSIVE Nathan Gill Sentenced: What He Was Really Doing for the Kremlin Reform UK's former leader in Wales was in the centre of Putin's preparations to attack Ukraine, argues Sergei Cristo Sergei Cristo In a statement, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey called Gill "a traitor … at the very top of Reform UK, aiding and abetting a foreign adversary" and branded Farage's party "a danger to national security". But if you think this is bad, consider our former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the troubling high-level Russian connections he had over many years. Brexit and Blaming the Victim As well as being the figureheads of their respective Brexit campaigns, Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson share another thing in common: as Russia launched its first phase of war against Ukraine in 2014, they both blamed the EU for the conflict. Back at the time of the Crimea land-grab, in March 2014, Farage told the press and the European Parliament that the EU had "poked the Russian bear with a stick" by encouraging Ukrainians to topple President Viktor Yanukovych, accusing Brussels of a "militarist and expansionist" policy that had provoked the crisis in Ukraine. Nathan Gill echoed his leader's defence of Putin a few months later, in his maiden speech to the European Parliament in September 2014, warning that an association agreement between Ukraine and the EU would "lead to war", and insisting that "what you are doing today is throwing petrol onto the bonfire which the EU lit". Nigel Farage went on to head the Leave.EU campaign a year later. The other leading leave campaigner, Boris Johnson, directly echoed this two years later. In May 2016, he told reporters that "if you want an example of EU foreign policy-making on the hoof, and the EU's pretensions to running a defence policy that have caused real trouble, then look at what has happened in Ukraine". How did it come about that both leading Brexiters were also Putin cheerleaders? From Nalobin to Farage: the long Russian courtship of the Tory right Carole Cadwalladr and I have documented in the award-winning Sergei and the Westminster Spy Ring, how the Kremlin was trying to suborn the Conservative Party and UKIP long before Gill was taking envelopes of cash from Medvedchuk's bagman. In late 2010, Russian-born Tory activist Sergei Cristo says he was approached at the Carlton Club by Sergey Nalobin, a first secretary at the Russian embassy and son of a KGB/FSB general, with an offer that Russian companies that would like to "contribute to the Conservative Party". An illegal act, like Gill's bungs. Just as interestingly, Nalobin quizzed Cristo about the rivalry between the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, and his former Eton, Oxford and Bullingdon Club contemporary, the then Mayor of London, Boris ...

Trump Envoy Has Financial Ties With Former Adviser to Putin's 'Money Man' Now Leading Kremlin Peace Talks

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Read our Digital / Print Editions Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY The Faena Miami Beach hotel gets thousands of five-star reviews online. It is arguably the most luxurious hotel in the city - certainly up there with the Miami Beach Edition. So, if you were the US Representative for Florida's 13th congressional district and in town on the weekend of 25 October this year, looking for a Russian businessman sanctioned by the US Government for his links to the Kremlin, the Faena was the place to be. It was also where Donald Trump's personally appointed peace envoy walked in with business ties to the very Kremlin-linked financial networks he was supposed to be negotiating against. The Envoy who Walked in With Two Hidden Conflicts Byline Times can reveal that Steve Witkoff entered this meeting carrying two conflicts of interest: his real estate empire has been financed, in part, by a former adviser to President Vladimir Putin's right-hand man on money and investment; and several of his Florida and New York developments have drawn on investment vehicles linked to post-Soviet networks now intertwined with Russia's political elite. These financial entanglements starkly contradict the narrative that Witkoff's apparent willingness to support Moscow's position stems from inexperience. Long before he picked up the phone to Kremlin officials, he was already moving through business circles shaped by the same interests he was now claiming to mediate. In fact, as long ago as 2011, the Kremlin's sovereign investment fund had recruited a Wall Street billionaire close to Trump as an adviser - and the same financier's firm later became one of Jared Kushner's biggest lenders, providing hundreds of millions of dollars for prime New York properties. Years before the current "peace plan" emerged, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner and a Kremlin-backed fund were already moving in a shared financial orbit. EXCLUSIVE Nigel Farage's 'Project 2029': The Pro-Trump Lobbyist Pushing His Agenda Into the UK A Trump-aligned anti-abortion lobbyist who hosted Nigel Farage's meeting with a 6 January rioter in Florida has been funding and advising the Reform leader while pushing Project 2025's hard-right agenda into Britain Nafeez Ahmed Inside the Faena Meeting and the 28-Point 'Peace' Plan At the Faena in October, Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) - the Kremlin's sovereign investment vehicle - was joined by President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and, Jared Kushner. The choice of venue was doubtless a good one - it is a self-proclaimed "exclusive sanctuary", defined by "decadent design, luxe amenities, and legendary hospitality." It also happens to be co-owned by a close business associate of Steve Witkoff's: the Ukrainian-born, British and American citizen billionaire Len Blavatnik, whose fortune grew out of post-Soviet deals with one of Vladimir Putin's closest oligarch allies. Blavatnik was sanctioned by the Ukrainian Government in 2023. These men were meeting at the Faena to finalise a 28-point peace plan for ending the war that the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, launched in Ukraine. Soon after the meeting, the plan landed like a FAB-3000 glide bomb on the international diplomatic community, prompting the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to warn on television: "Now, Ukraine can face a very difficult choice - either losing dignity or risk losing a major partner." The Back-Channel Calls to Moscow It has since emerged that, ten days before the Faena meeting, Witkoff held a call with President Putin's senior foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, on 14 October. A leaked transcript published by Bloomberg shows Trump's envoy coaching the Kremlin aide on how to pitch a "Gaza-style" peace plan to President Trump and reassuring him that Trump would give him "space and discretion" to get a de...

Your Party's Chaotic Conference Exposed a Movement at War With Itself

Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system Read our Digital / Print Editions Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features SUBSCRIBE TODAY "My glass of wine later is turning into a bottle," said the chair of Your Party's conference in Liverpool at one point during a particularly rowdy part of Saturday's session. It was hard not to feel sorry for her. "We're going to have to cut the mic [of the speaker]. We have to keep order. We have to keep order!" she exclaimed at one point. The member concerned wouldn't stop speaking - as he railed against what he described as a 'witchhunt' of members of other socialist parties. It must have been a particularly painful thing to hear for Jeremy Corbyn, whose supporters so often condemned what they viewed as a witchhunt against his supporters in the early days of Keir Starmer's leadership. Now it was allegedly happening within Your Party, Jeremy Corbyn's upstart socialist party that has been riven with personal divisions and factional fighting even before it formally launched. Its conference in Liverpoor exposed some real problems for the party. Originally planned to host 13,000 people, in the end, only around 2,500 people turned up, selected by 'sortition' - a bit like a jury. It's a hung one. In the huge cavernous space of the ACC - also home to Labour's conference earlier this year - at times the delegates resembled ballbearings rattling around in a tin can. Of course Your Party doesn't pretend to be a party on the scale of the Labour Party. But it does share some things in common: in particular the factionalism that so often tears left-wing movements asunder. Internal Tumult At one of many points of disruption in the hall, the Chair told members: "Please, please remember that we have a very important battle outside of this room, and it is called the very right wing media." Your Party's scepticism of Britain's press is understandable and justified. But the project has often done itself few favours: from Zarah Sultana's unauthorised membership launch in September, to the departure of all the directors of MoU, which held the party's funds - including the income from that botched scheme. And, in the past few weeks alone, they have seen the edeparture of two MPs from Corbyn's Independent Alliance in Parliament, which had been steering the foundation of the new party. As a result, Your Party organisers were expecting some disruption at conference, and they got it. Reporters were told - without much prompting - that if safety was put at risk or there was any violence, the conference would likely be shut down. There was, thankfully, no such violence. But heckling and defiance of the chair over members of the Socialist Worker's Party, Socialist Party and others being rejected from the conference (and in some cases actively removed) made the atmosphere tense. Rachel Reeves and the Daily Mailification of the BBC For all the focus on its supposed "left wing bias", the BBC's heavy coverage of Conservative allegations of dishonesty against Rachel Reeves shows how its political coverage is still largely led by the right-wing press Adam Bienkov Motley Crew Britain's 57 varieties of far-left parties have certainly jumped on board Your Party - or attempted to. I counted literature for eight different socialist/communist factions and parties at Your Party conference, plus Zarah Sultana rally leaflets. This was at one event, largely under one chair. At the rally for Sultana supporters on the eve of Your Party conference, former Labour NEC member Mish Rahman hit out at briefings against her by other YP figures "in the billionaire press". "You don't do the movement any favours by talking to them…You haven't even got the guts to put your name to it." At that very moment, at least one close ally of Sultana was briefing a journalist from a right-wing newspaper, I later learnt. The battle for control of the 55,000-or-so strong party - without doubt Britain'...