Gabriel Pogrund

The Sunday Times

It was Ros Atkins who recently said on BBC Radio4's Media Show that Gabriel was “so prolific his scoops are in danger of becoming part of the nation’s weekly routine”.

His tribute was a fitting capstone to a year in which Gabriel produced story after story about the most powerful people in society, securing police investigations, inquiries, resignations and suspensions along the way. His stories have been mentioned in PMQs, secured Commons votes, and delivered impact on a global scale. Above all he has made good on the adage that journalism is printing what someone else - the king and PM included - doesn't want published. Gabriel has spent much of the last year investigating the monarchy - an institution which can feel impossible to scrutinise. Exempt from transparency laws and immune from parliamentary debate, journalists are the only profession capable of shining a light on an institution which still wields power and exerts influence. This drove Gabriel’s reporting on the cash-for-honours scandal. If partygate centred on lawbreaking in No10, but also the indifference of the civil service, police, and Conservatives (the establishment), our work symbolised something similar in the king's court. His scoops were reluctantly reviewed by the Met and led them launched a criminal investigation, embroiling Charles in an inquiry into breaches of laws written in the name of the Crown. They forced the resignations of the chairman, CEO and director of the Prince’s Foundation, and several regulatory investigations. Despite a few bumps in the road - one person went to a rival after we refused to pay them - Gabriel led the way at every turn, breaking the news of the CBE deal, publishing pictures of a secret ceremony and revealing Fawcett had resigned. He also exposed conduct which - while not illegal - didn't meet the standards expected of royalty, including the stunning disclosure Charles accepted Fortnum&Mason bags stuffed with cash from a Gulf billionaire. Then there's Gabriel’s work in his usual patch: SW1. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he revealed British intelligence withdrew its assessment about Lebedev after pushback from Boris Johnson. The story electrified Westminster, prompting the PM to dismiss it as nonsense, Dominic Cummings to confirm it as true, MPs to demand documents via a Humble Address, and Lord Bew to acknowledge the peerage was a “special case”. On a similar theme, Gabriel revealed David Warburton lobbied the FCA on parliamentary paper for a Russian who secretly loaned him £150k. The MP was suspended and remains under investigation by the standards commissioner. Sometimes journalism is all about timing. But it can also be about telling the truth for posterity’s sake, which is why we've submitted Gabriel's revelation - shortly after Johnson announced his resignation - that Johnson lobbied for a woman to get a public job having "abused" his power to engineer a sexual relationship. The story was buttressed by extraordinary evidence - a recording of Johnson at the height of MeToo.