Democracy for Sale Podcast

About Democracy for Sale Podcast

A newsletter dedicated to revealing how dark money and hidden influence threaten our democracy democracyforsale.substack.com (https://democracyforsale.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Peter Geoghegan

Category

news · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

1 May 2025

Latest episode

12 Jul 2025

Latest episodes

8 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Jul 2025

   Britain’s Far Right is going mainstream

   Something dark is happening on the British right.Racist language and ideas once considered beyond the pale are becoming increasingly mainstream. In recent weeks, former Tory and UKIP MP Douglas Carswell has called for the “mass deportation of Pakistanis from Britain,” while self-styled academic Matthew Goodwin has revived the old “can Rishi Sunak be English?” trope. Conservative shadow chancellor Mel Stride, meanwhile, said (https://bylinetimes.com/2025/07/08/kemi-badenochs-conservatives-are-cynically-misrepresenting-statistics-with-plan-to-ban-non-brits-from-claiming-disability-benefits/) welfare should be restricted to UK citizens because “British citizenship should mean something.” Racism in British politics is nothing new. But as Sam Freedman (https://substack.com/profile/11888206-sam-freedman) recently argued in this excellent (https://samf.substack.com/p/blood-and-soil) (paywalled) piece, we’re seeing a shift toward ethno-nationalist rhetoric from within the political mainstream. This hasn’t happened by accident. The rise in racist language is part of a calculated strategy to break taboos and reshape the cultural contours of political debate. So how has this become possible? How did ideas once confined to the fringes of the British National Party become common currency in supposedly centre-right circles—and widely debated in newspapers and broadcast studios? And just how alarmed should we be by the rise of the far-right? To help answer these questions, I spoke this week with Harry Shukman, journalist, researcher at Hope Not Hate, and author of Year of the Rat (https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/468856/year-of-the-rat-by-shukman-harry/9781784746049), a remarkable new book based on more than a year spent undercover with Britain’s far-right. Posing as ‘Chris,’ Harry infiltrated nine far-right groups—some well known, like Britain First, others far less visible. Among them were the Basket Weavers (https://hopenothate.org.uk/the-basketweavers/), who present as a harmless men’s social club, but behind closed doors promote antisemitic conspiracy theories and dream of founding whites-only communities. What struck me most, speaking with Harry and reading his book, is how Silicon Valley is helping power this movement—not just through unmoderated social platforms that amplify hate, but also through money. In Tallinn, Estonia, Harry encountered white nationalists linked to the Human Diversity Foundation, a Wyoming-registered outfit funded by a US tech billionaire to pursue “race science.” It sounds fringe. But it’s not. The Foundation’s magazine, Aporia, has thousands of readers. Conservative MP Neil O’Brien reposted one of its articles. Lords Toby Young and Nigel Biggar have both appeared on its podcast. This is how extremism moves into the mainstream—from obscure online journals to the pages of The Spectator (https://arthursnell.substack.com/p/radicalisation-and-the-spectator), and, as Harry explains below, to the social feeds of Reform UK candidates. Harry also walked us through the world of think tanks and self-styled advisors who are recycling far-right ideas into Westminster politics - like Andrew Sabisky (https://investigations.hopenothate.org.uk/andrew-sabisky-westminster-network/), whose views on racial differences and IQ cost him his job with Dominic Cummings in 2020. But that didn’t stop him secretly working with one of Rishi Sunak’s special advisors. (And breakfasting with Palantir boss Peter Thiel.) Harry has done something extraordinary—and at no small personal risk. He exposes a hidden, growing network of far-right influencers and explains the distinction between the politics that trades in racist tropes and the often lost, disillusioned young men who are pulled into its orbit. It’s a vital conversation for this political moment. I hope you find it as revealing as I did. At Democracy for Sale, we’re committed to exposing how dark money and hidden influence are warping British democracy. If you value this work and haven’t yet joined us, now’s the time. We’re chasing major leads, pursuing critical legal challenges, and investigating the forces bringing racism and authoritarianism into the mainstream. But we can’t do any of it without your support. Join the fight to protect democracy - become a paying subscriber today. Get full access to Democracy for Sale at democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   28 Jun 2025

   What happens when Silicon Valley runs the state?

   This week, Democracy for Sale revealed (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/uncovered-how-uk-police-are-hiding-palantir-work-peter-thiel-trump) how a secretive police unit is instructing forces across England to withhold information about their contracts with Palantir, the shadowy US firm founded by Trump donor Peter Thiel. For Palantir, this kind of secrecy is par for the course. We know what it does—surveillance, military tech, big data—but much less about how it does it. The company is Silicon Valley’s closest thing to a black box. But we can learn a lot from what its leaders believe. Thiel openly argues that capitalism and democracy are incompatible. His co-founder, Alex Karp, talks of “disruption, domination, and deployment.” (For those who say his company is over-valued, the Palantir CEO dreams of “getting a drone and having light fentanyl-laced urine spraying on analysts that tried to screw us.”) Karp has set out his vision in his pitch-deck book Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, published in February. The Washington Post (proprietor: Jeff Bezos) called it “a call to arms for tech bros.” So what does that worldview really look like in practice? And what impact are Palantir—and the rest of the tech elite—having on democracy, in the US and around the world? To explore that, I spoke with Laleh Khalili, a brilliant writer and scholar whose work traces the ties between empire, capital, and control. Her books and essays (https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n10/laleh-khalili/collective-property-private-control) explore everything from shipping lanes and oil flows to the hidden infrastructures of surveillance tech. Laleh has described Palantir as “a child of the war on terror,” and in our conversation she drew out the deep connections between America’s vast defence sector—the Pentagon’s budget is bigger than the next ten countries combined—and the rise of surveillance technologies and, increasingly, AI. What Laleh reminds us, too, is that Silicon Valley’s boasts of omniscience are often just that—boasts. Palantir’s market cap has soared, but as she puts it, its AI-driven promises are “50% b******t, and 50% sinister.” (Which might not surprise anyone who read our recent reporting on English hospitals refusing to use Palantir’s software (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/palantirs-nhs-data-platform-rejected-hospitals)—because it’s not much cop.) We also talked about how Palantir and other tech giants pay former government ministers and top lobbyists (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/conservative-defence-minister-joins-trump-thiel-palantir?utm_source=publication-search) big bucks to push their case—hello, Nick Clegg and Peter Mandelson. Even more importantly, these new masters of the universe use their money and influence to cultivate close personal relationships with top politicians and decision-makers. This isn’t just about a handful of tech billionaires getting privileged access. It’s corruption on a scale not seen in America since the Gilded Age. Democracy cannot survive this level of state capture. So what lies ahead for the US? Laleh argues that America could be on the verge of serious social conflict, and warns about the risk of depoliticisation among progressives if the Democrats don’t seize on the success of democratic socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in New York this week. Right now, the future of American democracy feels perilously uncertain. Trump and his MAGA allies are intentionally undermining the institutions that have long underpinned US global power. The Supreme Court—handpicked to suit Trump’s autocratic instincts—seems to enable his every anti-democratic impulse. All this should serve as both a warning and a wake-up call for the UK. We don’t have a British equivalent of Citizens United, the US ruling that entrenched corporate power in politics. Our legal system doesn’t work that way. Our government could still take money out of politics. The key word, of course, is could. Starmer needs to act now —before it’s too late. At Democracy for Sale, we're committed to exposing dark money and hidden influence in our politics. If you value this work and haven’t yet joined us, now’s the time. We’ve got major leads to follow, big stories to break, and critical legal battles ahead to challenge government secrecy. None of it happens without your support. Become a supporting subscriber today—and be part of the fight to defend democracy. Get full access to Democracy for Sale at democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   21 Jun 2025

   Disgraced Tory says banning MPs' second jobs would harm democracy

   Last week, I was delighted to be joined by journalist and author James Bloodworth (https://substack.com/profile/5183684-james-bloodworth) to discuss his new book Lost Boys. It’s a fascinating investigation into the rise of manosphere - and how the crisis facing young men is being exploited by the far right. In our conversation - which you can watch in full above - we talked about everything from the role of social media and algorithms in online radicalisation to incels, influencers, and white nationalism, and what the liberals and progressives often get wrong about modern masculinity. With so many young men voting for Trump, and signs that they could do the same for Reform, understanding the manosphere has never been more important. Democracy for Sale now has its own YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@Democracy_for_Sale) - sign up here (https://www.youtube.com/@Democracy_for_Sale) to follow it. Let me know who you’d like to see interviewed on Democracy for Sale by replying to this email with guest suggestions. As political falls from grace go, Owen Paterson’s was particularly dramatic. Back in 2021 the former Conservative environment secretary was found guilty of an “egregious (https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/290/committee-on-standards/news/158246/committee-on-standards-publish-report-on-the-conduct-of-rt-hon-owen-paterson-mp/)” breach of parliament’s rules after lobbying ministers and regulators on behalf of two companies he was paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to advise. Paterson resigned his seat rather than face a 30-day suspension from the Commons, although only after Boris Johnson tried - and failed - to nobble the standards watchdog to save him. You might think that given this public downfall, Mr Paterson would be leery of getting involved in debates about MPs being paid as ‘external consultants’ - but you’d be wrong. Westminster’s committee on standards is currently holding an inquiry (https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/290/committee-on-standards/news/205019/committee-on-standards-launches-inquiry-into-mps-outside-interests-and-employment/) into whether there should be changes to the rules relating to parliamentarians outside interests - and Democracy for Sale was surprised to see that Paterson was among those who have submitted written evidence. It's fair to say Paterson feels he has done nothing wrong - and there’s no problem with MPs being lobbyists, too. Paterson’s submission - which runs to more than 2,700 words (https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/142433/html/) - ends with an impassioned plea that “the United Kingdom would be less well-governed and the public would not benefit” if second jobs were banned. Well, it’s a take. Others disagree. Rose Whiffen from Transparency International UK told us that "external consultancies don't enrich parliamentary debate - they instead create conflicts of interest that can leave MPs vulnerable to rule-breaking behaviour.” Whiffen added that: “The government should limit second jobs for MPs - voters expect their representatives to focus on serving constituents and the national interest, not juggling outside commercial obligations that compromise their independence." We’ll be watching the outcome of the standards’ inquiry with interest…. Speaking of lobbying in Parliament, we’ve another story for you…. The lobbyist, the Lord and problem of Britain’s “political influence bazaar” Prem Sikka has been one of Parliament’s most outspoken critics of Fujitsu’s role in the Post Office scandal. The Labour peer has tabled parliamentary questions, spoken in debates, and published articles condemning the decision to continue awarding lucrative public contracts to the tech giant. So when Sikka received an email in late May titled “Parliamentary Intervention Needed on Fujitsu’s Government Contracts”, he assumed it was from a campaigner or concerned member of the public. It wasn’t. The email came from a Conservative-linked lobbying firm. And the lobbyist was asking Sikka to raise concerns in Parliament about Fujitsu—on behalf of a client. “I couldn’t believe it,” Sikka told Democracy for Sale. “A lobbying firm shouldn’t be asking legislators to intervene on their behalf. It’s totally wrong.” The e-mail was sent by Sameer Gulati, a former advisor at the Department for International Trade and now associate director at NorthPoint Strategy, a lobbying firm founded in 2023 by Tory peer and ex-MP James Wharton. Gulati’s email didn’t identify NorthPoint’s client. It simply stated that the firm was “representing stakeholders concerned by both the [Post Office] scandal and Fujitsu's expanding role in public service provision,” and said Sikka’s “parliamentary influence is crucial in maintaining a spotlight on this issue.” The email—reproduced below—asked Sikka to consider various interventions, including “tabling parliamentary questions about Fujitsu’s suitability for any government contracts.” There was no mention, or suggestion, of payment. Earlier this week, Sikka wrote to the Lords Speaker, drawing attention to the email. “I am very concerned that commercial interests can subvert peers so nakedly and damage the standing of the House,” he wrote to Lord McFall. NorthPoint Strategy’s client list includes aviation and energy companies, as well as a crypto lobbying group, the UK Cryptoasset Business Council (http://crypto lobbying group, the UK Cryptoasset Business Council.). The firm was criticised (https://pocketmags.com/private-eye-magazine/1647/articles/revolving-doors?srsltid=AfmBOoqdKAMWbqpgQb9kdLL7CYGVvqCd_Bb3LYhxOEuL_3s5xmwMoQtB) earlier this year after hiring Lord Callanan, a Conservative peer who now acts as NorthPoint’s general counsel. Callanan, who previously served as an energy minister under Rishi Sunak, received clearance from the Acoba watchdog to take the job, which involves providing “strategic advice” on political risks. Responding to Sikka’s complaint, NorthPoint’s managing director, former Tory aide Simon Jennings, said the peer had “either fundamentally misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented the nature of the communication.” “As is entirely standard practice in public affairs, we invited him to consider supporting activity aligned with those views,” Jennings told Democracy for Sale. Two days after receiving Sikka’s letter, the Lord's Speaker replied. There would be no investigation. “Should a Member choose to pursue a cause having discussed it with a lobbyist, this would not in itself constitute a breach of the Code, so long as no payment or reward of any other kind has been accepted or agreed,” McFall’s private secretary wrote. Sikka said the whole episode highlighted the need to ban peers from working as lobbyists. While MPs are barred from taking paid lobbying roles under legislation introduced by Labour last year, members of the House of Lords can be paid to offer political advice (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/feb/25/call-for-ban-on-lords-being-paid-to-offer-political-advice). “No legislator should be able to act as a hired gun for any interest,” Sikka said. “Until you end this political influence bazaar, we’re never going to restore people’s faith in politics.” Finally: earlier this month, we reported (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-shocking-scale-of-big-tech-influence-labour-peter-kyle-amazon-google-meta) on a pretty unprecedented blizzard of meetings between the Labour government and big tech giants. Tech secretary Peter Kyle even told Amazon that he would “advocate” for them at the competition watchdog. We found 161 recording meetings between tech representatives and government officials during Labour’s first six months in office. (On average, business and commercial stakeholders have *23 times* as many meetings with ministers as charity, consumer and public interest groups, according to our friends at Spotlight on Corruption (https://www.spotlightcorruption.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Levelling-the-playing-field-full-report.pdf).) Our story was covered in the latest issue of Private Eye. Not included in our story was a meeting in April between Kyle Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI. What did the secretary of state and the CEO discuss over their £30 lunch? We don’t know - when Democracy for Sale contributor Adam Byczkowski (https://substack.com/profile/112202556-adam-byczkowski) sent a Freedom of Information asking minutes, notes and other documents from the meeting he was told nothing existed. There was no written record of a meeting between a senior minister and one of the world’s most influential tech bros. This is exactly the reason that Democracy for Sale is so committed to fighting against government secrecy. If you don’t already, please become a paid subscriber to support our work. Get full access to Democracy for Sale at democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

4. 

   12 Jun 2025

   Trump's rolling revolution, with Anne Applebaum

   Forget “it’s morning in America.” Right now it feels like the US in the middle of a long, dark night. Like many of you I imagine, I’ve been fixated by Los Angeles this week. The armed troops. The aggressive immigration raids. The eerie sense that the whole thing is a set piece for TV, produced by the ultimate show runner, Donald J. Trump. The numbers defy logic. There are now more troops in LA than in Iraq and Syria combined. And consider this: the last time a US president overrode a state to deploy the National Guard was in 1965 - when Lyndon Johnson sent troops into Alabama to protect civil rights marchers. So what exactly is happening in Los Angeles? What is Trump trying to achieve? To help answer that, I was joined today by Anne Applebaum—a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian, Atlantic staff writer, and one of the world’s leading experts on how authoritarian leaders dismantle institutions and turn democracies into autocracies. Our conversation began with LA and Anne’s most recent Atlantic article (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/california-protests-ice-trump/683102/), which sees this moment not as a show of strength, but as evidence that Trump’s revolution is facing resistance—from the courts, from citizens, and from what remains of America’s institutional guardrails. In response, Trump and key allies like Stephen Miller appear to be following a familiar authoritarian script: “to provoke, to divide, and then to allow the revolutionaries to suspend the law, create an emergency, and rule by decree.” In an ominous speech at Fort Bragg yesterday (https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-fort-bragg-6df36485dec1df2350d5b7be0882a703), Trump reverted to the dehumanizing rhetoric (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-authoritarian-rhetoric-hitler-mussolini/680296/) he used during the election campaign, calling protesters “animals” and “a foreign enemy,” language that seems to give permission to the Marines to kill people. Even if this confrontation ends without violence, the presence of the military in Los Angeles breaks another set of norms and prepares the way for another escalation, another set of emergency decrees (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/01/presidential-emergency-powers-abuses-trump/681341/), another opportunity to discard the rule of law later on. Trump sent in the National Guard under the pretense of quelling unrest—unrest that his own administration helped incite. It’s a textbook authoritarian move. As Anne noted during our half-hour discussion: “Nobody in LA asked for this.” We talked about the coalition driving Trump’s movement: a mix of techno-authoritarians, Christian nationalists, and old-school MAGA loyalists, united by a common contempt for the modern American state—and for the very concept of institutional checks and balances. As well as Trump’s revolutionary ambitions - and whether he really could suspend future elections - we also discussed the two driving motives of his White House: expanding his power, and looting the state. Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-trump-family-presidency-wealth/) suggests Trump has doubled his net worth to about $5.4 billion since the early days of his re-election campaign. As Anne put it, “this is already the most corrupt administration we have had in American history.” Anne was speaking to us from Poland - which has just elected its own populist president (after some not so subtle pressure from Trump’s acolytes). Has MAGA become its own ideological export? (Tariff-free, of course.) We ended our conversation with what I think is the most urgent question of all: What can we, as citizens, actually do to resist the rise of authoritarianism? Anne offered thoughtful, grounded insights—on the power of peaceful protest, the importance of civic institutions, and the critical need for sustained engagement. It’s a vital conversation for this moment. I hope you find it as illuminating as I did.At Democracy for Sale, we're committed to exposing dark money and hidden influence in our politics. If you value this work and haven’t yet joined us, now’s the time. We’ve got major leads to follow, big stories to break, and critical legal battles ahead to challenge government secrecy. None of it happens without your support. Become a supporting subscriber today—and be part of the fight to defend democracy. I also wanted to tell you about another exciting live discussion on Democracy for Sale this week. Tomorrow (Friday June 13) at 13.00 BST I’ll be speaking with author and journalist James Bloodworth about his compelling new book, Lost Boys. We’ll be diving into the manosphere, social media and why, and how, a generation of young men is being targeted and recruited online by the far right. Click here (https://open.substack.com/live-stream/34801?r=4vze6&utm_medium=ios) to join! Get full access to Democracy for Sale at democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

5. 

   4 Jun 2025

   The US Right Is Coming for the UK—With Crypto in Hand

   Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about cryptocurrency. I’ve been speaking with people who know far more about it than I do, and reading writers like Zeke Faux, whose recent book Number Go Up lays bare what he calls the “$3 trillion delusion.” But then a couple of things happened last week that made me really pay attention. First, the news broke that the Trump family’s media company—yes, the former U.S. president’s private business—plans to raise $2.5 billion to buy cryptocurrencies. The second was Nigel Farage’s announcement that Reform UK will now be accepting donations in Bitcoin. What jumped out wasn’t just that Farage is openly soliciting donations in a medium long favoured by drug dealers and money launderers. It was where he was saying it: at a massive cryptocurrency conference in Las Vegas, where Farage appeared on the same bill as JD Vance. New York Times journalist Ezra Klein—borrowing a phrase from Steve Bannon—recently described crypto as “muzzle velocity for corruption (https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-growing-scandal-of-%24trump/id1548604447?i=1000710254584)”: huge sums, from opaque sources, moving so fast they’re almost impossible to trace. So I decided to dig into what’s happening—and to ask how and why a Silicon Valley elite is trying to ‘disrupt’ democracy with a vision of the future in which the many are stripped of rights, and the few become, in the words of William Rees-Mogg (father of Jacob), “Sovereign Individuals.” To explore this, I spoke with Amy Westervelt—award-winning investigative journalist, podcast producer, and founder of the independent media outlet Critical Frequency and the brilliant Drilled podcast. Her latest series (https://push.fm/fl/drilled), released this week, delves into the SLAPP lawsuit trying to silence Greenpeace in the US. Amy has written extensively on the rise of what she calls ‘techno-fascism (https://drilled.media/news/network-state)’—including a recent, must-read piece that maps out the connections between figures like Palantir’s Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and the eschatologies of the Christian Right. In our conversation, we discussed the tech-libertarian dream of a ‘network state,’ why Trump really wants Greenland, and how a private ‘start-up city’ backed by Thiel is now suing the Government of Honduras for $11 billion. If that sounds like a dystopian nightmare—it pretty much is. What really stayed with me from our discussion was Amy’s warning that many of the same anti-democratic forces at work in the U.S. are already mobilising here in the UK. Over the weekend, Democracy for Sale revealed (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/us-antiabortion-cash-floods-uk-free-speech-union-adf) how U.S. evangelical groups are funnelling money into UK political campaigns—including Toby Young’s Free Speech Union. Amy drew out these transatlantic connections even further—from the British branch of the Heartland Institute and the US law firm Gibson Dunn, accused of helping Big Oil silence (https://www.desmog.com/2024/01/05/gibson-dunn-chevron-dapl-oil-free-speech/) protesters, now opening a London office to Paul Marshall (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/we-need-to-talk-about-paul-marshall-unherd-spectator-gb-news)’s Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC). Among those at ARC’s conference in London earlier this year was Curtis Yarvin, the ultra-reactionary blogger who once claimed that far-right terrorist Anders Breivik had the “right target” (socialist youth) but the wrong method (mass murder). As this New Yorker (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/09/curtis-yarvin-profile) (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/09/curtis-yarvin-profile)feature lays out, Yarvin has been spending time with Blue Labour peer Maurice Glasman. And then, of course, there’s the Brexit crowd and Farage. As Amy puts it, “Nigel Farage is deeply entwined with all these people.” Amy offers not just warnings for the UK (and Labour) based on the American experience, but also notes of hope on how to resist the rise of the tech bro–oligarchy. (After the call she also shared this spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sAlaHHKmcu1mKg1XE8pIsS2rptoVWq3ES_QedeVJrXk/edit?gid=0#gid=0) of the organisations involved in Project 2025. Do check it out.) I found our conversation fascinating, thought-provoking and, dare I say, uplifting —I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. At Democracy for Sale, we're committed to exposing dark money and hidden influence in our politics. If you value this work and haven’t yet joined us, now’s the time. We’ve got major leads to follow, big stories to break, and critical legal battles ahead to challenge government secrecy. None of it happens without your support. Become a supporting subscriber today—and be part of the fight to defend democracy. Get full access to Democracy for Sale at democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

6. 

   22 May 2025

   “This is what Elon wanted”: the Billionaire blueprint for capturing the state

   These days I find myself returning to an old William Gibson quote: “The future is already here - it’s just not very evenly distributed.” The cyberpunk novelist was warning about how technology could massively deepen inequality, as a few get access to incredible advancements that were kept from the many. It’s a dark, dystopian vision, but if anything Gibson didn’t go far enough: now we are watching democracies being hijacked by tech billionaires. Take Donald Trump’s grim press conference (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/21/trump-south-africa-president-meeting) with South African president Cyril Ramaphosa this week. Trump’s wild accusations of ‘white genocide’ have been widely debunked - the New York Times’s Daily podcast on this (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/podcasts/the-daily/refugees-trump-white-south-africans-afrikaners.html) is worth a listen [paywalled] - but what really struck me was when the president said that he had accepted Afrikaners into the US as refugees because “this is what Elon wanted”. Trump’s lines got a laugh from the pliant press corp but they’re funny because they’re true. Having given $300 million to the Republican campaign - and (ab)used his social media platform to win Trump’s election - Elon Musk is now able to use the US government as his personal fiefdom. Not only has Musk purged government agencies and replaced fired staff with his people, he has ensured that his companies will make billions from state contracts. Crucially, Starlink has now been put in prime position (https://www.pcmag.com/news/t-mobile-opens-cellular-starlink-beta-to-att-and-verizon-users-reveals) to take over the US mobile phone market - which would put Musk in control of private communications in the richest country in human history. There is a phrase to describe when democracies are taken over by private interests: ‘state capture’. But what exactly do we mean by state capture? And what does it look like? To find out I was joined last night by the professor Liz David-Barrett, who runs the centre for the study of corruption at Sussex university and wrote this brilliant piece (https://www.foreignaffairs.com/world/economic-consequences-state-capture?s=EDZZZ005ZX&utm_medium=newsletters&utm_source=fatoday&utm_campaign=China%20and%20Russia%20Will%20Not%20Be%20Split&utm_content=20250404&utm_term=EDZZZ005ZX) for Foreign Affairs last month. As well as Trump, Musk and Peter Thiel’s Palantir, we talked about Viktor Orbán - who is trying to push through legislation that would “effectively outlaw the free press” in Hungary. We also looked at examples of state capture in Britain - VIP Covid contracts, anyone?? - and asked whether we could expect worse in the future. (Prompted in part by this (https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/69836/the-populist-playbook-for-britain) darkly fascinating Prospect piece about how Reform could operate in power.) There is good news. Gibson’s lugubrious vista is not inevitable. Liz explained how state capture has been reversed in some countries and suggested one pretty simple thing we can all do to help defend democracy. Watch to find out! Democracy for Sale is committed to taking dark money and hidden influence out of our politics. If you appreciate our work and haven’t already done so, we hope you’ll become a supporting subscriber. We have numerous leads to chase down, big stories to dig into and important legal challenges to take to fight government secrecy. Your support makes it all possible. Join us today. Get full access to Democracy for Sale at democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

7. 

   15 May 2025

   Who Funds Reform?

   Reform is dominating our political conversation right now. Watching Keir Starmer this week you would never think he’s a prime minister with a 170-seat majority. While so many column inches have been dedicated to the electoral prospects of Nigel Farage’s party, I’ve been asking a very different question - who funds Reform? This really matters. Money buys power in British politics. Reform’s treasurer, billionaire former Tory donor Nick Candy, has promised to convince 20 big donors to give £1million each. That’s a lot of cash. We also know that Reform has had a lot more money to spend in recent months - as their ground operation during the recent Runcorn by-election attests - and we won’t know where that cash came for months because political donations are only published long after the fact. There’s also major questions over some of Reform’s previous funding, and the ‘black hole’ in its finances (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/the-black-hole-in-reform-uks-finances) - and all that’s before we even consider the prospect of Elon Musk pouring millions into Farage’s outfit. This all begs another, equally urgent, question - how can we stop big money buying our politics? Labour promised to do this. An elections bill is expected in the coming months. That should be good news. But my sources in Westminster tell me that Number 10 is refusing to commit to even the most minor reforms. This is a disaster for anyone who cares about protecting our democracy. But there is good news. Real change is possible, as Seth Thévoz (https://substack.com/profile/82226803-seth-thevoz) and I explain on our chat. Seth also exclusively reveals which London club blackballed Nigel Farage. Watch to find out! Democracy for Sale is committed to taking dark money and hidden influence out of our politics. If you appreciate our work and haven’t already done so, we hope you’ll become a supporting subscriber. We have numerous leads to chase down, big stories to dig into and important legal challenges to take to fight government secrecy. Your support makes it all possible. Join us today. Get full access to Democracy for Sale at democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

8. 

   1 May 2025

   Democracy for Sale talks to Nicola Kelly about ‘Anywhere but Here’

   Get full access to Democracy for Sale at democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe (https://democracyforsale.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

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