Arron Banks, the Ukip donor, has threatened to sue a Washington-based thinktank and three Conservative MPs over claims he is a “pro-Russian actor”. The businessman, who helped bankroll the Brexit campaign, issued a press release saying he was taking legal proceedings against Atlantic Council over its report entitled The Kremlin’s Trojan Horses.

The report mentions him under a heading of “pro-Russian actors” along with figures such as the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and Ukip’s former leader Nigel Farage. A spokesman for Banks would not name the three Tory MPs who have also been issued with proceedings.

In a statement, Banks said the idea of him being a “pro-Russian actor” was a “sad little conspiracy which would be completely laughable if it wasn’t such an insult to the millions of ordinary people who are responsible for this modern revolution”.

“Having been beaten by the people at the ballot box in the Brexit referendum and the American elections, and with the economic armageddon they predicted nowhere to be found, the transatlantic establishment have retreated into a fantasy world where they only lost because of a global conspiracy between KGB spies and ultra-nationalist collaborators,” he added.

Banks was one of the first people to be granted a meeting with Donald Trump after the US presidential election, alongside Farage and aides.



In his account of the EU referendum campaign, the Ukip donor talked about meeting the Russian ambassador to the UK when he described meeting “a shady character called Oleg” who was attending the party’s annual conference at Doncaster racecourse in September 2015. “He was introduced to us as the first secretary of the embassy – in other words, the KGB’s man in London,” Banks wrote in his book, The Bad Boys of Brexit.

According to the book, “Oleg” then invited him to a private meeting with the Russian ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko. “Our host wanted the inside track on the Brexit campaign and grilled us on the potential implications of an out vote for Europe,” Banks said, claiming the meeting lasted six hours. “Diplomatic relations only improved when our new friend produced a special surprise. It was a bottle of vodka which he claimed was ‘one of only three in a batch made for Stalin personally’.”

A spokesman for Atlantic Council said: “We are unaware of any pending legal complaint from Mr Banks. In keeping with our policy on intellectual independence, Atlantic Council reports represent the views of their authors, and not the Atlantic Council as an institution. That said, the Atlantic Council stands by this heavily sourced report.”