A sting operation led by The Times has been out-stung by GB News presenter and Conservative MP Philip Davies, aided by GB News Investigations Reporter Charlie Peters.
The report claims Tory MP Scott Benton was prepared to help business interests influence policy makers and provide access to behind the scenes information.
Tory MP Philip Davies was among the politicians contacted by the publication but working alongside Charlie Peters, they were able to see through the “sloppy” investigation.
Peters commented: “We can reveal how The Times operation failed to ensnare another backbench Tory and GB News presenter Philip Davies and the GB News Investigates team caught them on camera.
GB News were able to see through a sting attempt
GB News
“After he was approached, Mr Davies contacted the GB News Investigates team thinking something fishy was going on.
“Tahr Partners, the fake firm who ensnared Benton and purported to be an investment firm for an Indian multimillionaire family were not what they seemed.
“GB News visited what they claimed to be their offices and found no trace of them.
“Their office landline went to an overflow company who’d only started taking calls in the last week.
Scott Benton was stung by the operation
gbnews“The cover was sloppy, to say the least. The man who reached out to Mr Davies, William Kent, had a suspicious LinkedIn profile.
“He turned out to be a senior journalist at The Times. GB News Investigates also uncovered that his colleague, Alamu, supposedly the niece of the multimillionaire Indian businessman, was also a Times journalist in their conversation with Mr Davies.
While the investigation was met with many MPs shunning the email, Conservative MP Philip Davies was able to snuff out the warning signs, but followed up the contact in a bid to learn the full extent of the sting operation.
It comes after an investigation, led by The Times, saw reporters approach Conservative MP Scott Benton with the premise of being an investment fund seeking to gain influence over policymakers.
The Blackpool South MP was filmed by undercover reporters who posed as investors with interest in the betting and gaming industry, looking for an advisor.
Benton is said to have told the reporters he could leak a copy of a forthcoming white paper on gambling reforms to the made up company at least 48 hours before it went public.
Other promises including submitting parliamentary questions, where he revealed he had done it on behalf of companies before.
Benton also spoke of his “easy access to ministers”, saying he was prepared to “literally sit outside” a minister’s office if the company needed an urgent answer to a question.
