Gordon Rayner

Gordon has taken on the Government, the BBC, British banks, the British Museum and misguided charities with stories that have consistently dominated the news agenda over the past year.

In July Gordon broke the news that Coutts bank had admitted to de-banking Nigel Farage because he did not align with their values, then discovered that NatWest CEO Dame Alison Rose had been the source of an inaccurate BBC story about Farage that directly led to her resignation. She was swiftly followed out of the door by Coutts CEO Peter Flavel.

Gordon’s exclusives exposed the wider issue of banks closing the accounts of thousands of people because they did not agree with their views and caused the Treasury to take urgent action to address the problem by tightening the rules on account closures.

The fallout from Gordon’s stories led news bulletins for weeks and is ongoing.

August brought the revelation - triggered by inquiries from Gordon - that the British Museum had sacked a curator after discovering treasures had been stolen from its vaults.

Over the following days Gordon relentlessly followed up leads, interviewing whistleblowers, tracking down some of the missing items and publishing internal museum emails that exposed not only the extent of the thefts but the culpability of those in charge.

It led to the resignation of Hartwig Fischer, the museum’s director, while his deputy Jonathan Williams “stepped back” from his duties in the wake of the scandal.

In March Gordon was a senior member of the investigations team that unearthed the Lockdown Files, helming stories that included the disclosure that No10 went ahead with the controversial shielding policy despite scientific advice that it was not very effective. In May Gordon’s investigation into Childline - part of a more extensive investigation into the behaviour of the NSPCC - exposed the fact that teenagers who thought they were trans were being told to seek potentially dangerous treatments behind their parents’ backs. It led to pressure on the Charity Commission to conduct a full investigation into the charity. Then in June Gordon investigated the growing phenomenon of children identifying as animals, discovering that some pupils wanted to be recognised as moons, dinosaurs and even holograms, in a series of stories that prompted a national debate and directly led to an emergency inspection of Rye College in East Sussex.

Both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer were drawn into the controversy as they were forced to take positions on the issue, and Mr Sunak came under pressure to include guidance to schools on how to handle the issue of children identifying as animals in the Government’s now delayed update to its trans guidance.