A Russian Asset.

Nathan Gill. UKIP and Reform UK.

(Nathan Gill, (left) with Richard Tice)

Nathan Gill, a former leader of the Reform UK Party in Wales and prominent former member of the UKIP, was sentenced to ten years and six months in prison last year for accepting bribes. He accepted about £40,000 from Russian agents to make statements supporting Russia. This he did on many platforms including a Russian TV Channel connected to Putin, and more conspicuously as an MEP in the European parliament.

Gill admitted his guilt, probably under threat of a more serious charge if he didn’t. If he behaves himself, he will be out in five or six years, but Gill is low hanging fruit in this matter. A little man, caught up in an international conspiracy that leads all the way back to Putin.

£40,000 over ten years is not a lot of money, it’s peanuts to Russia; a drop in an ocean of cash spent undermining western democracy at every level. During my service with the British armed forces in the cold war, all troops were educated on how vulnerable we were if we broke simple security rules. Perhaps a copy of the part one orders posted every day on a unit notice board, perhaps some innocuous details about an upcoming exercise, or a beer with a generous friend in a bar in Germany. A small favour or a loose tongue and a soldier became a controlled asset. With Special Forces the emphasis was increased tenfold.

The KGB, now the FSB were experts at developing such assets at every level. They worked in percentages. Of the thousands approached and tempted a small number would become useful. Once a small offence is committed, or bribe accepted the asset is trapped forever. These intelligence operations were planned and operated over generations and still function to great effect, as Gill’s case reveals. A large amount of the Russian espionage budget is spent maintaining and influencing foreign affairs.

Convicted spies, Philby, Blunt, Mclean and Burgess, were high powered British traitors who willingly worked for the Soviet Union but their class, university background and friends in Government inadvertently defended them from investigation.

Nigel Farage the former leader of UKIP and the current leader of Reform UK continues to make pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian statements blaming Ukraine for the war. Farage greatest past ‘achievement’ was to undermine the unity of Europe with his successful Brexit campaign. Five years on, it would be hard for any economist to argue the UK or Europe is better off. Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s head of policy, refused to condemn Farage’s claim that the west had “provoked” Vladimir Putin’s invasion Ukraine, calling Farage’s statement ‘a mistake.’

What Russian intelligence services identify so accurately is the vulnerabilities of human nature. Almost all people are motivated by greed, fear, lust, and resentment. Those who think they are above such emotions are usually fooling themselves. The key to a person’s loyalty is most often resentment. An official passed over for promotion or a soldier punished for an offence he or she didn’t commit. A bit of bitching in a bar combined with a sympathetic ear and the security walls come tumbling down. A new friend who shows the way to some illicit pleasures and it all ends up on video. No one is immune, not politicians, senior officers, or members of royalty.

They can all be trapped and controlled. The Epstein program is the ultimate example. Already big names like Bill Clinton, GW Bush and Mitt Romney have been mentioned in association to Epstein by House Representative for Texas, Jasmine Crockett. The UK’s former Prince, Andrew Windsor, is a well known victim. (No sympathy intended). If the full Epstein story is ever revealed it could bring down the whole US establishment.

Debt is another path to control. The promise to solve personal and business debt is powerful. At a much higher-level financial support for embryonic political groups can develop into the complete destruction of a nation’s democratic and legal foundations.

None of us are immune to such manipulations. Just as very smart people get scammed online, everyone can be scammed by the intelligence services. Many people are bewildered by the inability of journalists to confront what appear to be obvious criminal acts or lies. The current insistence of corporate media to refer to the Russian surrender proposals as a ‘Peace Plan’ is one blatant but minor example. A journalist may write a sound and fair criticism, but the editor or owner can decline to publish it, sometimes for financial reasons, but just as often because pressure has been applied at government level not to publish.

As a result, the public turn to social media and private sources for their information. More dangerously they form their opinions on sound bites and conversations held down the pub after ten tequila shots. The Russians understand this very and apply their resources to these fertile grounds with enough success to manipulate elections.

When confronted with unpopular truths the first line of defence is the accusation of ‘a conspiracy theory.’ This does not prove the absence of conspiracy; it merely undermines any claims of impropriety. The effect of such manipulative propaganda is not to convince the public of the truth, but to create so much confusion the truth is obliterated in a flood of misinformation.

These are the tactics MAGA and Trump have used so successfully within the USA over the past twelve years. Subversion, coercion, blackmail, bribery, hate, resentment, and fear, all combined to undermine and destroy democratic ideologies. Having proved successful, other European political parties have followed their example. Despite coming close our checks and balances have remained firm but under the greatest of pressure, (excluding Brexit). The rules-based world order has been deliberately undermined over two generations. The international balance of power is shifting away from the USA. Whether or not that’s a good thing or desirable, it is a fact. Last year, the G20 became the G19 in South Africa when the USA didn’t turn up.

Russian asset and victim, Nathan Gill has gone to prison. He is a drop in an ocean of corruption. Far above him there are powerful people who went to Epstein’s island, took billions of dollars from foreign governments, indulged themselves when they were young, or rose to great heights with the support of unknown benefactors.

It didn’t start when a person came to power, it started way back when a young man or woman left college, joined the armed forces or ran for office, and needed a little help to move forward.

Most individuals involved are not wicked people who set out to betray their countries, they are victims of powerful and evil intelligence networks. Once entrapped they have no way out. Those who gain power risk losing everything they have achieved, home, income family, and reputation. Confession is an option, but that means prison if they do and deeper treason if they don’t. On the other hand there are the malignant narcissists who have no hesitation when it comes to betraying everything and anything for money or power.

Most assets are reassured by controllers who become their only sympathetic supporters, but they are there to be used and cast aside, much as Nathan Gill was. It is fortunate for him he was discovered and convicted. He will return to life in a free nation and have a chance to start again. Had he become leader of a party holding the balance of power in a UK coalition government, the damage he could have inflicted on the UK could have been severe. No doubt he has been turned by British intelligence and done a deal, but he only knows a few minor functionaries and his handlers with their diplomatic immunity will be long gone.

When we watch the news and see our national newspapers, the BBC and ITN continually refer to the Trump/Putin pact as a ‘peace deal’ the suspicion of corruption falls heavily onto the program editors. It isn’t who writes the story, it is who publishes that counts. On Sky TV, the Murdochs decide the agenda, in Russia, North Korea, and Iran the decisions come straight from the top. Politics has always been about who controls the message.

Today it is more a case of who confuses the message. In a population who are bombarded with lies and nonsense all day, every reasonable person stops paying attention; they trust nothing and ignore everything. It’s too exhausting. Such situations are perfect for the extremists who design and create the chaos to claim later, only they can resolve it; only they can restore order.

The strength of democracy is the rule of law, people’s right to disagree, argue and compete, and then resolve their issues or change leaders with a free and fair election. The weakness of democracy lies in failed expected norms of behaviour. We expect rulers to be reasonably honest and to be removed if they aren’t.

We expect the law to support the poor man as much as the wealthy, it doesn’t, (Horizon Post Office scandal).

We expect the police to be independent and non-political. They aren’t! The Home Secretary’s public loss of confidence in the West Midlands Chief Constable more than proves the point.

We expect the media to report verifiably facts not to report wild speculation and the prepared responses of political criminals but they don’t! We expect our elected representatives to work for the people’s benefit first, not the benefit of their political parties, and certainly not for the benefit of their own pockets.

Nathan Gill is a long-term symptom of a cancer growing inside our political, cultural, and social systems. It’s hard to know what the cure is; perhaps it’s terminal?

Who Dares Shares.

Robin Horsfall

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