A former Vote Leave staffer has become the third whistleblower to publicly accuse the EU referendum campaign of exceeding spending limits “on an industrial scale”.

In written evidence to the Electoral Commission seen by the Guardian, Mark Gettleson, a communications consultant, claims two of Theresa May’s political advisers were among the senior directors at Vote Leave involved in assisting the activities of a youth group, BeLeave, which was ostensibly a separate organisation. Vote Leave donated £625,000 to BeLeave which then spent the money on digital advertising in the last critical days before the vote.

The evidence forms part of the basis of a legal opinion submitted to the digital, culture, media and sport committee that argues that a series of electoral offences may have been committed by Vote Leave.

The submission says that the commission should investigate whether any such offences were committed with the “knowledge, assistance and agreement” of key figures in the campaign including Stephen Parkinson and Cleo Watson, who both now work for the prime minister, and its chief strategist, Dom Cummings.



Facebook suspends data firm hired by Vote Leave over alleged Cambridge Analytica ties Read more

Donations are legal if campaigns are genuinely separate. Gettleson has submitted correspondence, including emails to and from Parkinson and Watson, that appear to show they were directly involved in creating BeLeave’s campaign materials. Vote Leave has always maintained that it and BeLeave were separate entities and the Electoral Commission has already assessed the issue twice and found in favour of Vote Leave on both occasions. It has now reopened its investigation.

The emails also suggest BeLeave, headed by a 23-year-old fashion student, Darren Grimes, was directed by Vote Leave.

Official documents submitted to the commission claim BeLeave was a separate independent organisation, but Gettleson’s witness statement disputes this. In it he says: “That does not match my experience of it. It had no dedicated staff, Darren was a 22-year-old part-time volunteer based in the Vote Leave office who was doing social media and it had no money at all. It was literally Darren on Twitter and Facebook under the supervision of Vote Leave staff.

“I was providing support with the overarching message of BeLeave and website creation and Darren was working within Vote Leave and continually asking me, Stephen, Cleo and the Vote Leave design team for support and assistance.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Redacted Vote Leave emails.

Gettleson, a friend of the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie who later briefly went into business with him, also worked for a period with Cambridge Analytica and said that he introduced Cummings to the firm’s Canadian affiliate, AggregateIQ (AIQ).



Play Video 3:41 What is the Cambridge Analytica scandal? - video explainer

In an email to the Observer last March, Cummings said AIQ had been found on the internet. Cached searches show AIQ had no internet presence at the time. The firm removed a quote from Cummings from its website that read: “We couldn’t have done it without them,” said AIQ when the Observer sent questions relating to the evidence from another Vote Leave whistleblower, Shahmir Sanni.

Sanni, a volunteer for Vote Leave and BeLeave’s treasurer, came forward last month with evidence that the latter had no control over the former’s donation. “They just pretended to [donate the money],” he said. “We had no control over it.”

In response, Parkinson issued a statement saying he and Sanni had been in a relationship and said he gave him “advice and encouragement” in that context. Parkinson added: “I can understand if the lines became blurred for him, but I am clear that I did not direct the activities of any separate campaign groups.”

The statement was put out by an official spokesperson for the Cabinet Office and later May affirmed her support for her political secretary.

Gettleson has submitted emails that suggest that Parkinson may have been involved in the activities of various “outreach” groups including BeLeave.

In his statement, Gettleson said: “My understanding is that a lot of groups were created for cosmetic purposes to improve our chances of Electoral Commission designation.”

A long email chain from 5 April 2016 show Parkinson directing Grimes and liaising with Vote Leave staff members including Watson about a photoshoot. In the email he asked Vote Leave’s creative video editor: “Are the photos on [your] camera?”

The Vote Leave video editor later sent Parkinson images including one of Grimes and other BeLeave volunteers in front of the Houses of Parliament.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Redacted Vote Leave emails.

This image was later used in a Facebook advertisement and submitted by Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of Vote Leave, to the high court in March as part of a judicial review brought by the Good Law Project against the Electoral Commission. Elliott submitted it as evidence of how Vote Leave and BeLeave were not in breach of UK electoral law because they were entirely independent campaigns.

His witness statement says: “I thought it may assist the court in having examples of the campaign materials and I attach those … I can confirm distinct campaigns were run.”

In other email correspondence, Watson, Vote Leave’s head of outreach, asks Gettleson to help the group Veterans for Britain with its website. This was another purportedly separate campaign that also received a donation of £100,000 from Vote Leave that was also spent with AIQ.



Emails appear to show Parkinson, Vote Leave’s national organiser, was involved in even minor creative decisions about the outreach groups. In one email, Gettleson asks him whether he can put the expense on his [Parkinson’s] credit card but Parkinson refuses: “I can’t, I’m afraid – it’s not VL spend.” Instead it is believed the expense went on Gettleson’s card and was refunded by Vote Leave. In another email, Watson praises Gettleson’s work on the BeLeave site as “amazing”.



Tamsin Allen, a solicitor at the law firm Bindmans, said Gettleson had wished to remain anonymous and was named in documents as “J” but had been forced to go public because of legal action by Cummings against her and three barristers at Matrix Chambers – Clare Montgomery QC, Helen Mountfield QC and Ben Silverstone – who have written a legal opinion based on their assessment of the evidence.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Redacted Vote Leave emails.

They have said there was “powerful evidence including contemporaneous correspondence” that Vote Leave and BeLeave were “intimately linked” and a “prima facie case that electoral offences were committed by Vote Leave in the EU referendum campaign and that these require urgent investigation”.

Cummings has called Wylie and Sanni “liars and charlatans”.

Allen said: “Mark gave his evidence to the Electoral Commission because he believed it was the right thing to do.” She said Gettleson was prompted by his belief that spending limits were being breached during the referendum campaign “in his words ‘on an industrial scale’”. She added: “The importance of Mark’s evidence has been underlined by Vote Leave’s reaction. In particular, Mark believes the outing of Shahmir was completely unjustifiable.”

Neither Parkinson nor Watson responded to the latest allegations, but Watson has said previously: “I absolutely deny the charges against me.” In Parkinson’s previous statement, he said: “I had no responsibility for digital campaigning or donations during the referendum, and am confident that Vote Leave acted entirely within the law and strict spending rules at all times.”

Vote Leave has repeatedly denied the coordination between the campaigns and said the donation was legitimate pursuant to electoral law.

Veterans for Britain have not responded to the Guardian’s questions. The Cabinet Office declined to answer questions about why it – a branch of the civil service – had put out a statement on behalf of a political advisor or whose decision it was to reveal the sexuality of Sanni.