Saturday’s Daily Mail carried a surprisingly vivid account of the arrest of Nigel Farage’s aide, George Cottrell.
Cottrell, 22, was ambushed at Chicago’s O’Hare airport and led away by FBI agents on a variety of charges related to financial misconduct – including money laundering – several weeks ago.
Arrested Ukip/Farage aide George Cottrell with donor Arron Banks attending Andrew Marr programme a few weeks ago pic.twitter.com/tzj9xIrGDq
— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) August 14, 2016
The story, billed as an Exclusive by the Mail’s political editor-at-large Isabel Oakeshott, is surprisingly detailed in its recounting of the event.
The Mail reported:
As they arrived in the US, Cottrell was briefly detained by customs officers in Chicago in what appeared to be a routine check before being allowed to continue his journey.
…
To Mr Farage’s shock, five FBI officers were waiting to meet Cottrell as they disembarked from their return flight from Cleveland to Chicago O’Hare on July 22, en route to Heathrow.
The distressed former Ukip leader – who knew nothing of his aide’s alleged illegal activities – was given no information about Cottrell’s arrest, and was forced to return to London without him.
If it seems almost as detailed as an eyewitness account, that’s because it is.
Heat Street can reveal that Oakeshott was at the airport with Farage and his entourage when the agents struck.
She had spent the earlier portion of the day watching Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, and live-tweeted parts of his speech:
What a spectacle pic.twitter.com/h5sq8aB81e
— Isabel Oakeshott (@IsabelOakeshott) July 22, 2016
Although the Mail makes no explicit reference to the fact, she was travelling with the group, which included Cottrell and Leave.EU spokesman Andy Wigmore.
Oakeshott was along for the ride as part of her efforts to co-write a book on the EU Referendum.
The tome has been described by insiders as a “hagiography” of UKIP.
The book’s existence was revealed recently in the diary pages of the Evening Standard – prompting Oakeshott to claim she is “just helping” and that the named authors will be Wigmore and Banks:
Thanks for your interest @ESallyB – it's @Arron_banks and @andywigmore 's book not mine – I'm just helping. As fast as we can write it!
— Isabel Oakeshott (@IsabelOakeshott) August 12, 2016
Perhaps, but Heat Street understands that Oakeshott is in fact being paid a healthy fee for her help – and good luck to her.
But shouldn’t the Mail’s readers have been told that the author of its potentially serious crime story was in fact on the scene as the action unfolded, making nice with those closest to the suspect as part of a moonlighting exercise?
