Robert Mendick

Robert Mendick secured a series of agenda-setting exclusives over the year across a wide range of subjects at home as well as reporting from Gaza, northern Israel, two months in the the US covering the election and from Mexico’s southern border, where he followed a convoy of refugees making the dangerous journey through drug cartel country in the hope of reaching America.

Mendick investigated Britain’s biggest company AstraZeneca (worth $250bn) over its refusal to recognise a side effect of its Covid vaccine that has been officially linked to 81 deaths and hundreds of serious injuries in the UK alone. Mendick tracked down victims and their families who have received zero compensation or apology from the Big Pharma corporation, highlighting the catastrophic side effect unique to the AstraZeneca/ Oxford vaccine. He pieced together hundreds of WhatsApp messages from inside the government that showed the seeming eagerness for Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock to embrace this one particular vaccine developed by their old university.

In the months after the investigation, the vaccine was withdrawn from use worldwide and AZ finally admitted in legal documents that their drug did cause the side effect. The investigation was brilliantly handled. Mendick dealt sensitively with the victims, building up their trust over their very real concerns that they would be accused falsely of being anti-vaxxers (which they are not). He wrote a searing 5,000 word analysis (making clear that The Telegraph supported covid vaccines) that formed the bedrock of an investigation that held Britain’s biggest company to account. The government meanwhile remains accused of failing to deliver adequate compensation for those killed or seriously maimed by the vaccine.

Among the scoops, Mendick secured the story of Craig Mackinlay, the MP whose limbs were amputated after contracting sepsis. Mendick had learned of the MP’s “extreme surgery” back in December 2023 but had decided against publication of any details, waiting patiently until Mackinlay was ready to trust him and in the process securing the newspaper exclusive. The front page splash and accompanying 4,000-word interview were superbly and delicately handled.

Mendick also broke the extraordinary story of the Cabinet minister Johnny Mercer, who was facing jail for contempt of court for refusing to cooperate with a public inquiry into extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan. Mendick used contacts gained over years covering abuses - and false claims of abuses - in Iraq and Afghanistan to enable him to break the story. Mendick deftly handled a political and complicated story that rocked the Sunak government.

In Gaza, Mendick was the first British journalist into Khan Younis where fighting was still raging. He wrote dispatches from Israel, including exposing the work of a private investigations agency linked to the Israeli intelligence services; spent two months in the US, writing dispatches that included the Amish voting for Trump in Pennsylvania; and a stint in Mexico with South American migrants trying to walk from its border with Guatemala to the US. The article with accompanying video was heartbreakingly pieced together and beautifully written.