{"id":734875,"date":"2026-08-11T20:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T20:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/734875\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T20:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T20:10:12","slug":"richard-tice-accused-of-nasty-tactics-over-legal-threat-to-the-guardian-richard-tice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/734875\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Tice accused of \u2018nasty tactics\u2019 over legal threat to the Guardian | Richard Tice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reform\u2019s deputy leader Richard Tice<\/a> has been accused of using \u201cnasty tactics\u201d in an attempt to intimidate journalists and deflect attention from his own financial affairs after issuing a legal threat to the Guardian.<\/p>\n

In a letter sent from his lawyers, a Guardian correspondent was singled out for her reporting on a series of Tice\u2019s financial transactions that were referred to the National Crime Agency.<\/p>\n

Tice is now suing the NCA, claiming that the information could only have come from an officer within the agency.<\/p>\n

In a separate letter to the Guardian, Tice\u2019s lawyers made clear they would be seeking disclosure of documents that could reveal the details of sources.<\/p>\n

John Whittingdale, a former Conservative culture secretary, condemned the move.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe essence of a free press is that journalists can use verified information from sources without being forced to reveal who they are. This betrays a failure to understand how important that principle is to journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret Hodge, the peer and former Labour MP and anti-corruption campaigner, said: \u201cIt is never acceptable for individuals to seemingly abuse our laws to silence investigative journalism and close down public criticism. That\u2019s why we need to urgently reform our laws to stop rich people using their wealth to close down legitimate scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jemimah Steinfeld, the chief executive at the Index on Censorship, added: \u201cThis has the appearance of an attempt to force a journalist to break the golden rule: that sources must be protected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been vital public interest reporting by the Guardian. The sources of such journalism are sacred. If the facts are incorrect, then they can be challenged, but the sources should not be chased down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis appears to be a tactic designed to not only silence journalists but those who talk to them. It is a nasty tactic and we should all be concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theo Bamber, the chief executive at the News Media Association, said that \u201crobust protection for journalists\u2019 sources is absolutely fundamental to ensuring that reporters can scrutinise authority and hold the powerful to account on behalf of the people impacted by their actions and decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of legal threats by an individual or organisation trying to force journalists to disclose their confidential sources is an attack on this important principle, and one that must be resisted at every turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tice and Reform\u2019s leader, Nigel Farage<\/a>, have been under intense scrutiny in recent months because of a continuing investigation by the Guardian into their financial affairs.<\/p>\n

The Guardian revealed in a series of detailed reports that Reform UK received a secret \u00a31m donation via a fundraising vehicle run by Tice and a secret \u00a35m gift<\/a> made to Farage shortly before he announced he would stand in the 2024 general election.<\/p>\n

The Guardian also revealed that these and other transactions were reported by bankers to the National Crime Agency over fears they could involve laundered money.<\/p>\n

Throughout its reports the Guardian has referred to financial industry sources.<\/p>\n

Tice has suggested in a document filed at the high court that the Guardian\u2019s award-winning City editor, Anna Isaac, could not have had sources at multiple banks.<\/p>\n

In legal correspondence sent directly to Isaac, Tice\u2019s lawyers suggested he is seeking to unmask sources based on his own assessment of the reporter\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Farage has also issued proceedings against the NCA.<\/p>\n

A GNM spokesperson said: \u201cRichard Tice\u2019s legal threat against the Guardian appears to be a calculated attempt to deflect attention away from legitimate questions about his financial affairs and the funding of Reform UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of providing answers to those questions, he seems intent on intimidating journalists and seeking to expose sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Guardian will oppose these attacks on the freedom of the press and will not be deterred from public interest-driven investigations into politicians and the parties they represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farage previously claimed \u2013 without providing any evidence \u2013 that the details of the \u00a35m gift must have come from Russian spies hacking his phone.<\/p>\n

The Guardian described Farage\u2019s claim as \u201cabsurd\u201d and \u201can attempt to deflect attention from legitimate scrutiny of his financial affairs\u201d. The spokesperson added: \u201cNigel Farage is once again hiding behind a baseless attack on the media rather than facing up to scrutiny from journalists and politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reform\u2019s deputy leader Richard Tice has been accused of using \u201cnasty tactics\u201d in an attempt to intimidate journalists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-734875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}