FT investigations. Previously defence & security editor, political and home affairs correspondent. Get in touch: [email protected]
United Kingdom
Joined March 2011
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James Orr: Reform’s head of policy, Cambridge theologian, architect of the new British right. Our profile for @ftweekend looks at his links to the Maga movement, Silicon Valley & European populists, and his life as a Cambridge lecturer
with @ramshodgson
ft.com/content/c2d02f83-a5a0…
Helen Warrell retweeted
NEW: my investigation into one of Poland’s biggest-ever corporate scandals, based on internal company documents, shipping data, blockchain analysis, court filings and extensive interviews.
How Poland lost $230mn trying to buy Venezuelan oil with crypto ft.trib.al/HnvhUkF
Helen Warrell retweeted
🔴SCOOP🔴: Russia has been secretly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles. The @FT found a covert programme, codenamed C430L, involving some of Russia’s top missile engineers, and a years-long effort to help Tehran master a technology it has wanted for decades
Helen Warrell retweeted
Betting account in George Cottrell’s name received $9mn in crypto from unidentified sources
Great @AnnaSophieGross / FT scoop
ft.com/content/b74cbc54-c6ae…
Helen Warrell retweeted
🚨 New: Another man appears to have operated inside the fake Russian far-right network behind the Starmer arson attacks.
He has not been publicly identified or charged by UK police, raising new questions over a much wider Russia-originated agitation campaign in London last year.
Helen Warrell retweeted
Arson targeting Keir Starmer properties originated in Russia ft.trib.al/JbyG0Oo
Phenomenal detail from @FT obituary of the great Alex Younger, from @charles_clover & @JP_Rathbone:
When Dominic Cummings called him for the first time, he asked Younger what he was doing. “Plotting evil shit,” Younger replied.
ft.com/content/59c9aab3-efa1…
Russia & Iran are recruiting teenagers across Europe and the Middle East to conduct sabotage. From Kyiv to Tel Aviv, we reveal how minors are hired online, paid in crypto & exploited as disposable, deniable, single-use agents. From @ChristopherJM & me
ft.com/content/58dabb01-41f6…
A Russian businessman & his daughter tried to buy a lake district golf course next to the railway line that serves Sellafield's nuclear waste site & the submarine shipyard at Barrow. UK security officials intervened. @FT scoop from @ramshodgson & me
ft.com/content/19a3d7b1-c8a8…
NEW: The Home Office has admitted that some people are being referred to its Prevent deradicalisation scheme *just* to ensure faster access to mental health & neurodiversity services, in an internal review seen by @FT
[free link for first 300 readers]
as.ft.com/r/f8176f47-6b1e-41…
11-15 year olds are the largest age cohort being referred to Prevent. At the moment, over 500,000 children are on waiting lists for mental health services in England & the the median waiting time for an autism diagnosis is nearly 19 months for under-18s
as.ft.com/r/b3532af8-0809-4c…
Helen Warrell retweeted
Marmalade dropper from The FT’s investigative team (again)
Pete Hegseth’s broker looked to buy defence fund before Iran attack ft.trib.al/DKXRnPP
Helen Warrell retweeted
How MI5 gets into the minds of young terrorists ft.trib.al/4snQCIT
Story of the year from @humeyra_pamuk — WOKE FONTS
reuters.com/world/us/rubio-s…
Last week the UK warned Russia to rein in its spy ship Yantar, which was heading to Irish waters. This piece shows how Ireland's neutrality has become a security liability, threatening its economy & unsettling its neighbours. By @jude_webber & me for @FT
ft.com/content/4748d385-877b…
Helen Warrell retweeted
NEW: US criminal immigration cases overtake drug and fraud prosecutions, according to our analysis of thousands of court filings, as Trump reshapes American law enforcement.
on.ft.com/4rc7Ze5
Yantar is once again loitering near UK waters: for a full run-down on this Russian spy ship and the exploits of GUGI, Moscow's secretive underwater operations unit, see our piece from earlier this year: ft.com/content/0b351091-3f82…
The Defence Secretary @JohnHealey_MP this morning confirmed that a Russian spy ship – the Yantar – is on the edge of UK waters, north of Scotland, having entered the UK’s wider waters over the last few weeks.
This is a vessel used for gathering intelligence and mapping undersea cables, dragging sensors behind it. The @RoyalNavy deployed frigate HMS Somerset, and the @RoyalAirForce deployed P-8 aircraft to track the vessel’s every move, during which the Yantar directed light lasers at our pilots.
This is the second time this year that this Russian spy ship has deployed to UK waters. It is one of many Russian vessels designed to threaten our Critical Underwater Infrastructure.
To Russia: We see you. We know what you are doing. And if Yantar travels South this week, our Forces are ready to act.
ALT Russian intelligence ship Yantar.
What has Russia's spy ship Yantar been doing in UK waters? @FT found the ship loitering over vital undersea cables between UK & Ireland and shows how Moscow's secret GUGI unit is working an agent of sabotage. With @xtophercook @dariamslv & David Djambazov
ft.com/content/0b351091-3f82…
Helen Warrell retweeted
Former top civil servant in running to replace Mandelson as US ambassador on.ft.com/421NINs
Helen Warrell retweeted
Obituary: Stella Rimington, head of British spy agency MI5, 1935-2025. A quote for the ages:
“It’s a relief to no longer feel responsible for the world . . . Being powerless brings a sense of lightness that’s rather pleasant.”
ft.com/content/25c50f39-281f… by @helenwarrell
