Defence Secretary Wes Streeting is under scrutiny after accepting £37,500 in donations from a left-wing think tank with ties to convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried. The issue was spotlighted on Wednesday's instalment of GB News, where presenter Patrick Christys kicked off a panel discussion.
Donation timeline questioned
Christys explained that Streeting had reportedly accepted the sum from Labour for the Long Term (LLT) during 2022-2023. The problem, he pointed out, was the timing: "One month before the donation, [LLT founder David] Lawrence and the think tank received £500,000 from notorious crypto fraudster, Sam Bankman-Fried, who actually has had a Netflix documentary made about him."
A spokesperson for Streeting stated that all donations were "properly declared" and "all diligence was followed," and that Wes had absolutely no knowledge about the source of LLT's funding.
Panel reaction
Handing over to the panel, Nina Myskow called the story an example of "mischief making," and an opportunity for The Telegraph to "smear Wes Streeting with the same brush as [Nigel] Farage." The broadcaster added that the Defence Secretary had carried out due diligence and appeared to have had no knowledge of it at the time.
Mark Littlewood, director of Popular Conservatives UK, sparked agreement when he remarked that Wes should clear up "one thing" in particular: "What advice was issued by the Labour Party to its shadow cabinet? If there was an email that went round saying, 'you may be offered by this outfit called LLT, don't touch it, we think it's pretty dodgy,' then Streeting's in much, much hotter water."
Littlewood reiterated that the public needed to know if Streeting had received any advice before accepting the donation, and if so, had he overridden that advice – though there is no suggestion he did receive or indeed override that advice.
