A political lobbying firm co-founded by Lynton Crosby, former electoral strategist for David Cameron and Boris Johnson, has been found secretly paying journalists to write favourable stories for British newspapers, a Guardian investigation reveals.
Lobbyists for CT Group told an undercover reporter they had paid journalists to place apparently independent stories, offering hundreds of pounds in cash incentives for a property industry client, with increased editorial control.
Details of the arrangement
Gavin Stollar, head of CT's real estate division, approached a freelance journalist and offered payment to pitch a piece to a national newspaper about problems caused for the housebuilding industry by the Building Safety Regulator, set up after the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people. Stollar, a Liberal Democrat activist awarded an OBE in 2024, said CT Group would help with research and provide human case studies.
Other CT staffers proposed paying the journalist to write stories for a property guardianship company, Live-In Guardians, offering £100 for every successfully published story. They also offered £500 to chair a roundtable.
Secrecy and editorial control
One lobbyist said they wanted pieces to avoid appearing as advertorials but “clearly we’d like you to keep our client’s messaging and overall objective in mind”. When asked if the newspaper would know of CT Group's involvement, a staff member replied: “No, I don’t think they need to. We kind of sit behind that.”
Another lobbyist described a past arrangement with a journalist “where I paid her to do a certain piece, a certain national piece”, adding that the journalist “never discloses to editors where she gets her sources from”.
CT Group's response
CT Group said the events had been “deliberately mischaracterised”, stating they did not engage the undercover journalist or pay him anything. They added: “We never ask journalists to behave otherwise than in accordance with their professional and ethical standards.”
The company, with a £40m annual turnover and clients including Airbus, Philip Morris, and Manchester City FC, said the journalist “chased us relentlessly over a period of more than six months”.
Industry context
The investigation spans over four months and involved discussions about placing stories in the Financial Times and the Guardian. It comes amid growing scrutiny of the lobbying industry, following Peter Mandelson’s dual role as owner of Global Counsel while serving as British ambassador to Washington.
