- Missing missiles - 20th August 2026
- Investigation report part one - 19th August 2026
- Another Huwge mistake again - 18th August 2026
For our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, the importance of the kind of investigative journalism he undertakes has always been fundamental, and now this is underlined by more disturbing information coming to light about Nigel Farage (who ‘won’ the Clacton by-election last week), which has been brought out by this sort of reporting.
It has its uses.
Investigative Journalism keeps the rich and powerful on their toes, and information about them is brought out which wouldn’t be revealed through ‘official’ channels.
Perhaps the most distinguished (and I certainly wouldn’t DREAM of putting The Eye in their league), is the Insight team on The Sunday Times (ST).
Among their many scoops, was exposing the Thalidomide scandal many years ago.
This disclosure comes at a difficult time for Mr Farage, as he is also at the heart of major inquiries, where he claims he is the subject of ‘witch hunts’, and he has faced accusations that the bizarre by election last Thursday may have been an attempt to take attention away from them.
All the main parties boycotted the Claction by election (condemning it as “fake”) and Count Binface, a perennial joke candidate, managed to attract 27 per cent of the vote, with another 32 also-rans getting 10 per cent between them.
But the result won’t stop a Metropolitan Police (Met) investigation into money for Reform UK, or the parliamentary inquiry into why he did not register a multi-million pound gift/donation.
Mr Farage won (if that’s the right word!) with 63 per cent of the vote, but the whole thing was entirely unnecessary.
His detractors say that he chose to step down and force a fresh election in order to deflect the heat he was getting over his personal finances, and donations linked to a friend known as ‘Posh George’.
Mr Farage did not turn up to the count (not the ‘Binface’ one!), claiming there was a security threat against him (a claim denied by local police), and he cancelled what had been billed as a “major speech”‘.
“It’s all a bit of a farce”, declares one Clacton resident.
The Conservatives have stubbornly refused to die: they are polling 20 per cent on average, just a few points behind Reform UK, undermining his argument that right-of-centre voters need to consolidate behind his party.
Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, is much more popular among Reform UK voters than Mr Farage is with Conservatives, according to data from YouGov, suggesting that her party may find it easier to attract Reform UK supporters than the other way round.
Expect more to come out about Mr Farage’s behaviour – but from Investigative journalists like me, NOT from the Reform UK media office…
The memories of Phil’s decades-long award-winning career in journalism as he was gripped by the rare disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
‘Investigation report part two’, comes soon where he looks at how his kind of journalism has brought out controversies around the world.
Tomorrow – how the benefits of a Politics and Modern History degree for Phil, are clearly shown by the parallels which can be drawn today between the crisis now over the scarcity of the vital ‘Patriot’ missile system, and the ‘Shell Shortage’ of World War One, which helped propel Lloyd George to power.
