#Steve middleman series

Mr Edginton approached journalist Isabel Oakeshott to help work on the scoop which was splashed by the Mail on Sunday Like any journalist would be, I was excited and proud that my story was about to get such prominence.īut neither Isabel nor I expected it to have such a huge impact – but then why should we? I was having dinner in Pizza Express with a friend when Isabel informed me that our story would be on the front page the next morning. Given the possible controversy, we decided to leave my name out of it. We developed the story together before providing it to The Mail on Sunday. I spent several days mulling over what to do before contacting Isabel Oakeshott, a highly experienced journalist with whom I have worked. I knew this was a big story – but little did I know just how big.

I was shocked by the brutal language from a supposedly impartial diplomat. Mr Edginton, a 19-year-old freelance journalist, insists that his role in the leaking of Sir Kim's diplomatic telegrams was not a 'Brexiteer plot' to topple the ambassadorįrom that work I provided exclusive stories for national newspapers, including The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun's website and The Mail on Sunday.īut last month, my investigation took an extraordinary turn when a trusted source read out to me an astonishing letter written by Sir Kim in June 2017 to Sir Mark Sedwill, Britain's national security adviser. In it, Sir Kim branded Trump's White House 'inept' and 'utterly dysfunctional'. Over seven months, I spoke to a large number of Whitehall sources, including both retired and current civil servants. There had been repeated reports claiming that Europhile mandarins have been quietly working to thwart the result of the referendum. I decided to aim big and investigate how the Civil Service has been preparing for Brexit, including what senior Government officials really think about our impending departure from the European Union. Instead, it was simply an honest journalistic endeavour.Īs a 19-year-old freelance journalist with a passion for politics, I was looking for a big project through which to develop my career. I am sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists but this was not a Brexiteer plot to topple Sir Kim, nor was it some devilish scheme to torpedo the independence of the Civil Service by installing a political appointee in Washington. Today I want to set the record straight and reveal the real story about how Sir Kim's diplomatic cables entered the public domain.

Tens of thousands of words have been devoted to speculation about the motivation behind the disclosure.

#Steve middleman series

Sir Kim Darroch was forced to resign from his role as ambassador to the United States over a series of leaked memos in which he criticised the Trump administration