What if I told you that a company founded by Keir Starmer’s communications chief helps rich clients ‘protect their reputation’ with what could only be described as a dubious, hush-hush service?

Tim Allan might be the current Prime Minister’s press guru, but he actually began his career working for Tony Blair in the 90s as a researcher and political advisor. 

After leaving Blair’s government, Allan founded Portland Communications, which our latest investigation discovered has been hiring middlemen to scrub some of the more controversial stuff off the Wikipedia entries for the likes of Qatar.

Allan built Portland into a powerhouse in the PR world, not least by securing Qatar and the like as clients. Qatar is keen to shed its image as a gas-exporting autocratic monarchy, exposing overseas construction workers to hellish conditions as it builds a gleaming citadel in the desert. 

It would rather we see it as a harbinger of peace and hope. In the past I’ve reported on how Qatar hired private spies to stop any critics, so I know what great lengths it’s willing to go to for this.

Critics have often said that hosting the football World Cup in 2022 was all about polishing Qatar’s reputation. Following the announcement of their successful competition bid, criticism over the deaths of migrant construction workers building stadiums started flowing thick and fast.

So, Qatar hired Portland to help. 

According to six former Portland employees involved in some of this work, Qatar started asking Portland to edit its Wikipedia page so that people wouldn’t read the horrible stuff straight away. Perhaps it thought potential tourists would be put off by allegations over its shockingly-poor human rights record? 

We were able to analyse the Wikipedia edits and discover that negative press was caveated differently or buried under material more favourable to the state. In this murky business, it’s all about the subtle changes – they can get away with them, and they make a big difference in perception.

“Small Wikipedia edits punch above their weight,” explained Alberto Fittarelli, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. “Professionals who try to manipulate the platform know that small, incremental changes are likely to stick for longer.”

Portland had been busted for Wikipedia editing in the past, so it hired a middle man to do the job this time, scrubbing its own fingerprints from the work. The edits even obscured mentions of a major terrorist-financing case involving Qatari businessmen.

Portland and Qatar didn’t respond when we contacted them.

The reporting on this investigation wasn’t straightforward. PR people usually sign strict non-disclosure agreements, so encouraging them to speak requires a lot of patience and care. It took months cultivating these sources. We also have to make sure we protect their identity, because they could otherwise be at risk of losing their jobs.

I’m so proud of the team for kicking off 2026 with such a strong investigation. There’s a lot more coming, too. With local elections on the way and the truth consistently under threat, we’re working our socks off to provide the kind of fact-based accountability journalism that will expose the most egregious wrongdoing.

And with the support of readers like you, we can keep pushing forward with that mission.

Factchecked!

Each week we reveal a fascinating fact from our reporting…

Did you know?

An “academy” set up by a Sri Lankan influencer to run Facebook pages, including some which push racist, Islamophobic and anti-migrant posts aimed at British audiences, claims to have taught 2,500 students.

Find out more

Geeth Sooriyapura says he makes money through Meta’s “in-stream ads” programme, which allows advertisers to place adverts before, during or after videos, and between short-form reels. His videos also recommend allowing Facebook users to pay for subscriptions to popular pages, and taking advantage of Meta’s performance bonuses – direct payments to creators of viral content.

Read more here.

Drill baby drill

Those of you familiar with the south coast might remember when 200 barrels of oily water leaked from a pipeline, spilling into Poole Harbour in March 2023.

The natural harbour is protected because of its ecological importance for seahorses and wetland birds, among other wildlife. The event was a real tragedy, with conservationists calling for an end to oil extraction in the area.

Now, the government is considering whether to approve extraction at the Rosebank oilfield in the North Sea. If an oil spill occurred in this area it could spread across 29 marine-protected areas, according to an assessment by Shell and Equinor, the co-owners of the Rosebank license.

This week we revealed how this move is one piece of a much larger puzzle, which makes the UK the world’s worst offender for letting fossil fuel companies drill in protected areas. We took part in a global collaborative journalism project (coordinated by the Environmental Investigative Forum and European Investigative Collaborations) looking at how much production and exploration licenses for fossil fuel projects overlapped with supposedly protected spaces on land and at sea.

Globally, there are 7,000 locations where governments have allowed companies to drill for oil and gas – even though they’re areas inhabited by endangered wildlife, or form a barrier against climate breakdown. In the UK, the overlap between drilling and natural sites is 13,500 km², which is nearly two-thirds the size of Wales. 

It’s staggering.

Wera Hobhouse, a Liberal Democrat MP and member of the energy security and net zero select committee, thought the same. “Protected areas exist for a reason,” she said, “and allowing oil and gas exploration within them completely undermines their purpose, putting irreplaceable natural habitats at risk.”

Hobhouse said that the UK topping the list is “frankly shocking and irresponsible”.

Take a read of our latest investigation, where reporter Josephine Moulds also explains how the UK got to this position in the first place. Understanding that much could help us to identify what can be done to make it better.

Ask me anything!

Journalists are trained to ask the difficult questions, but it’s not very often that we’re the ones in the hot seat. I started as CEO in September, and I’ve got lots of plans to share with you. Here’s your chance to give me a good grilling and ask me anything.

Got a burning question about what it’s like to interview a source? Or maybe you’re keen to understand more about why investigative journalism is so important for protecting democracy. Join us on Wednesday 21 January at 6pm on Zoom for an unfiltered interview.