GB News issues worrying blow to Wes Streeting after £37,500 gift

Wes Streeting is under fire after accepting donations from a left-wing think tank with ties to convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried. A story spotlighted on Wednesday’s instalment of GB News, presenter Patrick Christys kicked off a panel discussion.

“Wes Streeting is facing questions tonight after a big investigation from The Telegraph newspaper,” he began. Explaining that the Defence Secretary had reportedly accepted £37,500 in donations from a think tank called Labour for the Long Term (LLT) during 2022-2023, Patrick pointed out why it was so problematic.

“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.” Patrick added that a spokesperson for the Labour MP had 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.

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.

Sparking agreement from Mark Littlewood, the director of Popular Conservatives UK, 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,” he mused.

Mark 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.