Arron Banks has said that he only spoke to Russian Government officials because they had asked him to organise a tour of Salisbury Cathedral. Mr Banks was speaking after it was revealed that the National Crime Agency is investigating where money used to fund Leave.EU came from.
An insider told The Rochdale Herald, “Mr Banks attended several meetings with some Russian friends. During these meetings they discussed the possibility of Mr Banks organising a tour of the famous Salisbury Cathedral. It has a clock that is one of the oldest working clocks in the world. This interested the Russian Government greatly. They asked if Mr Banks would arrange a guided tour of the Cathedral.”
When asked why it was Mr Banks who was asked our insider said, “The Russian intelligence services have informed us that it would be very treacherous to attempt such a visit. The weather conditions in Salisbury can be very treacherous and the Cathedral is very difficult to find. We thought it would be best if somebody with local knowledge went.”
The Russian Government have refused to comment but our insider said, “The trip never went ahead though. Mr Banks thinks he visited The Hermitage Museum whilst in Moscow so we thought he might not be best equipped for leading a tour to Salisbury.”
It is alleged that the Russian Government saw Mr Banks as something of a ‘useful idiot’ helping to further the Kremlin’s interests. This is something the Russian Government denies. A spokesman told us, “There’s no way you could say Mr Banks is useful.”
Elsewhere, the UK Government has denied allegations that it has encourage Arron Banks to seek refuge in the Saudi Embassy.
