Brexit dark money?
Author
Discussion

maxxy5

Original Poster:

771 posts

188 months

Friday 20th October 2017
quotequote all
How did Arron Banks afford brexit? Fascinating article here which asks where his money comes from:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexitinc/adam-ra...

Plus mystery DUP donation:

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/19/m...

Whatever you think about Brexit, things should be more transparent than this.

It's obvious where the fingers are pointing, but I think it might be America where they should be looking.

Luther Blissett

396 posts

156 months

Friday 20th October 2017
quotequote all
This mob are trying to push the UK towards No deal.
http://www.private-eye.co.uk/issue-1454/hp-sauce

mx5nut

5,404 posts

106 months

Friday 20th October 2017
quotequote all
Nothing to see here. Only enemies of the people or saboteurs would be interested in this. Stop trying to overturn democracy.

wc98

12,401 posts

164 months

Friday 20th October 2017
quotequote all
"Crucial to maintaining the fabric of democracy in Britain is understanding where large donors have made their money, and just as importantly, how"
on this i agree, the author has a lifetimes work ahead of them if this is their intention for british politics as a whole.

anonymous-user

78 months

Sunday 22nd October 2017
quotequote all
Cohen suggests|Russia up to no good -

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct...

anonymous-user

78 months

Sunday 22nd October 2017
quotequote all
Hmm-the methods behind the Leave victory seem to be coming under more and more scrutiny with this as well.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jamesball/a-suspected-net...

alfie2244

11,292 posts

212 months

Sunday 22nd October 2017
quotequote all
Be fair.Remain had slasher & JJ and they must be worth at least a dozen bots each.

Tuna

19,930 posts

308 months

Monday 23rd October 2017
quotequote all
cookie118 said:
Hmm-the methods behind the Leave victory seem to be coming under more and more scrutiny with this as well.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jamesball/a-suspected-net...
Good grief. If the nonsense spouted about the referendum wasn't bad enough already, we're going to have to deal with conspiracy theorists as well?

Firstly, both sides used social media heavily during the campaign. Any investigation that only covers one side is trying to prove a point, not uncover 'the truth'. Has anyone done an analysis of the overall bias of Buzzfeed during the referendum?

Secondly, when it comes to Twitter, botnets have the sum total effect of the square root of bugger all. The only reason they exist is they're incredibly cheap to create, not because they have any measurable effect.

BlackLabel

13,251 posts

147 months

Monday 23rd October 2017
quotequote all
Those pesky Russian agents, they are everywhere.



Edited by BlackLabel on Monday 23 October 20:03

BlackLabel

13,251 posts

147 months

Tuesday 24th October 2017
quotequote all
I see Newsnight have a piece on Banks later.

citizensm1th

8,371 posts

161 months

Tuesday 24th October 2017
quotequote all
It staggers me that anyone is surprised that Russia (and others) would not have tried to influence the outcome of any U.S. or U.K. vote.

the chance to destabilise two founder members of the U.N. and leading nato members would be to much to resist if you had the opportunity.

Tuna

19,930 posts

308 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
citizensm1th said:
It staggers me that anyone is surprised that Russia (and others) would not have tried to influence the outcome of any U.S. or U.K. vote.

the chance to destabilise two founder members of the U.N. and leading nato members would be to much to resist if you had the opportunity.
It staggers me that anyone thinks this is new. There have always been 'special interest groups' both inside and outside the US and UK trying to push their specific agendas. It's rather a feature of democracy.

///ajd

8,964 posts

230 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
It is the reasons why Russia would back brexit that are relevant here. They would not be doing it to boost the UKs global standing, would they? Does it mean they thinj brexit would weaken the UK and the west? That would seem a logical deduction.

And what does it say about Banks if he has colluded? Is that patriotic?

anonymous-user

78 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
Special interest groups are one thing, interference by a foreign power (if shown) is another. It seems likely that Russia seeks to destabilise the EU and NATO wherever possible. It is not clear that Putin is a long term strategic thinker, but he is good at short to medium term chaos distribution. The USSR spent itself to exhaustion on military hardware. Putin is astute enough to realise that a modest amount spent on cyber warfare and a few million here and there to fund the destabilisation of democracies are a better deal than lots of tanks.

Tuna

19,930 posts

308 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
Breadvan72 said:
Special interest groups are one thing, interference by a foreign power (if shown) is another....
Should we be looking at who supports Momentum then, or the Morning Star... or for that matter the foreign owner of the Sun, Times etc?

anonymous-user

78 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
Transparency is good for democracy, so look at all of those.

Tuna

19,930 posts

308 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
///ajd said:
It is the reasons why Russia would back brexit that are relevant here. They would not be doing it to boost the UKs global standing, would they? Does it mean they thinj brexit would weaken the UK and the west? That would seem a logical deduction.

And what does it say about Banks if he has colluded? Is that patriotic?
If you're looking for evidence that Brexit must be a bad thing, inferring it from the fact that an antagonistic state *might* have been in favour is a bit of a stretch. You could equally look at the global companies who were heavily in favour of remaining, and ask if the EU is seen as being an easy target for corporate globalisation.

The point being that both inside and outside of the UK, Brexit was not looked at in an altruistic manner - all groups considered how they would benefit or suffer as a result and that played into their political position. That's expected in a democratic vote, and the public discourse had before the referendum was an opportunity for those cases to be aired, countered and discussed. We *know* that democracy is also challenged by spin and media, but on the whole it cannot be eliminated without moving away from a genuinely democratic vote.

What's happening here is that some people are focussing on one small (extreme) part of the democratic process and treating it as though this is exceptional and demonstrates a basic flaw in the referendum. That ignores the fact that there were plenty of other opposing forces that provided the much needed counterpoint. The (marginal) participation of one group in a vote does not in itself render the vote invalid.

dxg

10,218 posts

284 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
okay, so we've had hard power, and we've been using soft power for donkey's years. what's this, then? dark power?

BoRED S2upid

20,996 posts

264 months

Wednesday 25th October 2017
quotequote all
A very interesting article about Banks but all it proves is the tangled web of public and non public company use he has his fingers in (usually in the till) these practices are not unique and as for turnover v profit it’s very often the turnover that is king just look at the likes of Amazon and Facebook ok on a different scale to this but for years both had massive turnover figures while they were developing their businesses and very little if any profit.

As for his diamond mines is that just to look good and boast to others? Lend my empire another £10mill look I own diamond mines!

These political campaigns really don’t care where the money comes from.

maxxy5

Original Poster:

771 posts

188 months

Thursday 2nd November 2017
quotequote all
Hmm interesting!

Electoral Commission to investigate Arron Banks’ Brexit donations

"The Electoral Commission will investigate donations worth £2.3m, assessing whether Banks was the “true source” of loans made in his name. It will also establish whether Better for the Country was the “true source” of donations made to Brexit campaigners or whether it was “acting as an agent” for some other source of funds."