5: #5 | DUP, Dark Money and Data

This week’s episode is all about the DUP, dark money and data. In the first half of the podcast we talk about the most recent comments from UK Brexit Secretary, David Davis, and his knowledge of Irish politics. We also discuss comments from the Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney, who said that ‘if there isn’t significant progress towards trying to find a wording that puts in place an operational backstop in the withdrawal treaty, well then we’ll have to ask some very serious questions as to whether it’s possible to do it by October.’ In the second half we speak to Peter Geoghegan, an investigative journalist with Open Democracy about how the DUP came across some money in the run up to the Brexit referendum, how the leave campaign ran a smart online campaign and we asked him whether George Soros is different from Aaron Banks. [9:53] How the DUP got involved as a player in the Brexit campaign and how they spent their money. [12:08] Who donated the money to the DUP? [13:13] The Aggregate IQ and Cambridge Analytica link [14:23] Why do we care if people spent money with AIQ [15:42] Who are BeLeave and who did they spend their money with? [16:47] Didn’t the Remain campaign cheat too? [18:56] The use of data in the campaign [19:32] How did the DUP find AIQ? [20:25] Why are the campaign finance rules different in Northern Ireland? [23:40] Loopholes in the law [24:25] Could the electoral commission investigation precipitate a second referendum? [25:15] Investigations into Leave.EU [26:10] How is George Soros different from Aaron Banks? FURTHER READING Who are the AIQ? Read more here. Read more work by Peter Geoghegan on this issue here. Listen to a documentary about Aaron Banks here. Find out more about BeLeave here. Read all about Cambridge Analytica and AIQ on the Guardian’s website here. Follow Peter on Twitter @PeterKGeoghegan