Sunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror has led the way setting the agenda throughout the year with a string of must-follow scoops. The Partygate Tapes published on 18 June 2023 revealed the first-ever video footage of the "Jingle and Mingle" Christmas Party held in Shaun Bailey's office at Conservative Party HQ. Readers could see the full extent of drinking and dancing at the event, which was held in December 2020 while London was in Tier 2 Covid restrictions, when it was illegal to socially mix with anyone outside of your household.
Our front-page revelations made headlines in all other UK media and also led to Metropolitan Police re-opening the criminal investigation in light of our evidence. It was followed by all other UK media outlets in broadcast and print- and led to 24 fines being issued by the police. The Sunday Mirror was trusted by Cheryl Korbel, the mother of nine-year-old gun crime victim Olivia Pratt-Korbel to give her first interview following the trial of her daughter's killer Thomas Cashman. Ms Korbel vowed to fight gun and gang culture in the wake of her daughter's death.
She also spoke for the first time of her desire to force criminals face their sentencing in the dock. Our title secured the first interview with Stephen Lawrence's best friend Duwayne Brooks, speaking for the first time since a sixth suspect's identity, Matthew White, was revealed. Mr Brooks told how had he been presented with an image of White at the time of Stephen's murder, he would have been able to pick the assailant from a line-up. Mr Brooks criticised the Met Police's 'sabotage'. The Sunday Mirror also spoke exclusively to the refugee Gary Lineker took in to his home.
Rasheed Baluch said Brits should be proud of the Match of the Day host in the wake of the presenter's suspension from the BBC over Twitter comments about the government's migrant policy. It was the first time Mr Baluch had ever spoken about his journey escaping Pakistan fearing for his safety, before arriving in the UK and being taken in by Lineker's family.
On 29 January 2023 we revealed that Conservative Party Treasurer Mohamed Mansour's business was still operating in Russia. We found heavy machinery openly for sale via Mansour's company Unatrac. This prompted demands the Tories sack Mansour and pay back his £5m donations, and also saw the business winding down in Russia.
The Sunday Mirror has produced some of the most-talked about exclusives of the year and displayed a vibrant mix of agenda-setting politics, news and showbiz exclusives, all bolstered by high impact and thoughtful tabloid storytelling which our whole team are dedicated to and proud to produce across news, features, foreign affairs, politics, showbiz and sport- all bolstered by our magazine supplement Notebook magazine and our Lifestyle section Shine.